The joint statement said examiners will not impede banks’ responsible efforts to offer open lines of credit, closed-installment loans or other products to borrowers dealing with fallout from the pandemic.
While analysts agree banks are in better shape than in 2008, lawmakers are dusting off a crisis-era tool used by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to soothe potential liquidity fears during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some banks have closed branches or restricted access and bank tech resources are being overwhelmed; bank pays a record SKr4 billion ($400 million) for issues.
The FDIC chairman, citing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, is the first regulatory chief to call for suspending the accounting standard for expected loan losses.
The voluntary agreements were meant to help the FDIC make staffing changes ahead of a wave of retirements. But concerns about the coronavirus means those plans will be put on hold.
In signing off on deposit insurance for the payments giant and student loan servicer, the FDIC sanctioned the first new industrial loan companies in over a decade.
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 says it is not cutting its workforce but that the new strategy is necessary because it has an unusually high number of workers near retirement age.
