Banking

Top executives from large businesses around the country, led by former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, have written to Congress, calling on legislation to extend and create lending programs for small businesses.

The executives suggest the programs operate through the banks and lenders who have participated in the Paycheck Protection Program.

Read on for details from the letter to Congress.

Will they, or won’t they?

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is scheduled to stop taking applications again Aug. 6. As of the end of business July 30, the PPP still had close to $130 billion in funding available.

In the Senate version of the latest round of federal stimulus, PPP would get an additional $190 billion in funding, and businesses would be able to access a second PPP loan if they already had received one earlier – with conditions on which businesses could access a second loan.

But talks between Democrats and Republicans have stalled. Will they pass legislation before PPP expires again?

As Congress pressed forward on work on a new stimulus package for the country, there appeared progress on adding more funding to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the potential for businesses to get a second PPP loan, and discussions over blanket forgiveness for small borrowers.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday told CNBC that there was bipartisan support for PPP.

Read on for all the latest.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson joined acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in an event to raise awareness of the way in which Opportunity Zones can receive credit under new regulatory rules.

The event took place in Charleston, S.C., and brought together 50 bankers, developers, and advocates from throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Read on for more details from the event.

Little more than a month after taking over at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), acting comptroller Brian Brooks announced the agency would propose a rule on defining the true lender in a transaction.

The move comes on the heels of the OCC issuing a rule finalizing the “valid when made” doctrine on Brooks’ first day at the helm.

Read on for details about how the OCC will determine who the true lender of a transaction will be.

After consultation with the association’s executive committee, American Bankers Association President and CEO Rob Nichols wrote member banks, urging all of them to adopt a policy requiring anyone entering a branch to wear a mask or face covering.

Nichols said the move would be taken to protect the health of bank employees and customers.

Read on for more details behind the move from the banking association.

As chairmen of the financial committees in Congress in 2010, Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank had their names go down in history when the financial reform package they authored was signed into law as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

A decade later, the two men sat down for a conversation about the impact of their work, how financial reform has been implemented and what remains to be done.

Read on for details from their assessments.

A decade and 2,300 pages later, the Dodd-Frank Act has fundamentally changed the financial services industry – in ways which are both good and bad.

The bill was designed, a Dodd Frank Update story from July 2010 noted, to create a sound economic foundation to grow jobs, protect consumers, reign in Wall Street, end “too-big-to-fail” institutions and prevent another financial crisis.

Experts from CBA, ICBA and NAFCU looked back on the good and the bad about the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act. Read on for their thoughts.

Former Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen joined current Fed Gov. Lael Brainard and former Fed Gov. Jeremy Stein to discuss the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on the banking and financial services industry over the past 10 years.

Among the top takeaways from the discussion was Yellen’s desire for Congress to create a new Dodd-Frank Act.

Read on for details from their discussion.

A new whitepaper from Safe Systems examines a recent survey conducted by the company, along with best practices for handling security and compliance concerns.

The paper is titled “Top 10 Banking Security and Compliance Concerns for Community Banks and Credit Unions.”

Read on for details from the company, and what it determined was the best line of defense against cyberattacks.