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Gov’t to start looking for bias in small business lending

NEW YORK (AP) — Banks will need to start reporting the demographics and income of small business loan applicants under new rules published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday. It’s a move that policymakers hope will lead to less discrimination and more transparency in the small business lending market, similar to how other laws have regulated the residential mortgage market for decades. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress mandated the bureau to start collecting data on small business lending decisions to look for patterns of discrimination. Implementation of ...

Biden calls to revive bank regulations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Weeks after the failure of two banks, President Joe Biden called Thursday for independent regulatory agencies to impose tighter rules on the financial system, telling them that they can act under current law without additional steps taken by Congress. The recommended changes outlined by the White House try to put a clear blame on the Trump administration for weakening supervision of regional banks, issuing a fact sheet that said Biden’s predecessor “weakened many important common-sense requirements and supervision.” Rattling the financial markets and U.S. ...

US futures follow world shares higher as bank anxiety wanes

The Associated Press Wall Street pointed higher early Wednesday as anxiety about the global financial system began to wane somewhat following three high-profile bank failures. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index were up 0.9% before the bell and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%. Fears that banks around the world might be cracking under the strain of interest rate hikes to cool inflation temporarily pushed aside unease about slowing economic growth. Some calm has returned after regulators announced measures to shore up the system. “Clearly, investors ...

US: Credit Suisse violates deal on rich clients’ tax evasion

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement with U.S. authorities by failing to report secret offshore accounts that wealthy Americans used to avoid paying taxes, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday, releasing a two-year investigation that detailed the role employees at the embattled Swiss bank had in aiding tax evasion by clients. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee pointed to an ongoing, possibly criminal conspiracy tied to nearly $100 million in accounts belonging to a family of American taxpayers that the bank did not disclose. It also said Credit Suisse helped a U.S. ...

Asian stocks rise as anxiety over banks starts to fade

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose Wednesday as anxiety about the global financial system began to fade following three high-profile bank failures. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Shanghai followed Wall Street lower. Oil prices gained. Fears global banks might be cracking under the strain of interest rate hikes to cool inflation temporarily pushed aside unease about slowing economic growth. Some calm has returned after regulators announced measures to shore up the system. “Clearly, investors have not completely lost their anxiety,” said Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ...

Impact of ESG bill veto on your retirement goals

By John Dealbreuin Wealth of Geeks On March 20, 2003, President Biden issued his first veto, rejecting bipartisan legislation that would have overturned the Labor Department’s ruling to allow retirement plans to incorporate “environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles” into their investments. Background on The Current Department of Labor Rule In 1974, the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was passed by Congress to protect private retirement and healthcare investment accounts from unscrupulous managers who may attempt to defraud unwitting ...