The Main Street Lending Program, announced on April 9 as an option to help U.S. businesses weather the coronavirus outbreak, will be available to a wider array of companies than previously planned.
The Federal Reserve chairman pledged to use every tool at the central bank's disposal to limit the economic fallout from the coronavirus and urged lawmakers to take further action.
Large institutions say their strong capital positions allow them to reward investors, and the Fed agrees. But critics say this is the time to be preparing for a sharp downturn and continue helping those hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the Senate panel overseeing Federal Reserve and Treasury Department efforts to boost the U.S. economy urged the agencies to remember their disclosure requirements.
The letter written by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, was seen as a boost to Wall Street lobbying efforts seeking to quell the fallout of the coronavirus crisis on the mortgage market.
The Fed's actions are designed to ensure the flow of credit to midsize businesses and state and local governments hit hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Reserve is temporarily altering the growth restriction it placed on Wells Fargo in 2018 so that the bank can make additional loans to small and midsize business that need funding to weather the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the coronavirus emergency, the central bank may have to decide at what point the imperatives of an economic crisis outweigh the requirements of its most severe enforcement action in recent memory.
After the financial crisis banks took a PR beating, limiting bonuses could prevent criticism; the Fed moved with authority in the face of the coronavirus.
