Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, said financial institutions "need to be investing in their communities right now, not investing in their CEOs’ stock portfolios.”
The central bank has been under increasing pressure to act as investors have been losing faith in the Trump administration's efforts to contain the economic fallout.
Acting Deputy Director Leonard Chanin formerly was a deputy general counsel at the Cincinnati bank that is now in the bureau's crosshairs for allegedly opening unauthorized accounts.
The OCC and FDIC’s proposal for modernizing the community reinvestment law would give banks below $500 million of assets the option to keep the current regime. But bankers and industry representatives say that threshold should be higher.
The agency will be tasked with providing $50 billion in loans to small businesses harmed by the pandemic. It is unclear whether the SBA will need bankers' help.
