The Federal Reserve offered a detailed recap of developments within the agency and in the financial sector in the latest edition of its standard monthly report on its supervisory and regulatory activities. Other agencies addressed new developments with respect to bank supervision and efforts to better educate the public about predatory pricing practices. Learn more about these developments in this roundup.
Federal Reserve releases November supervision, regulation report
The banking system remains sound and resilient overall, according to the Federal Reserve’s November Supervision and Regulation Report. Most of the nation’s federally insured banks have continued to report strong capital levels above applicable regulatory requirements and liquidity, and funding conditions have remained stable compared to 2023, while asset quality generally has remained sound. The main weaknesses highlighted in the report relate to credit performance in commercial real estate lending and some consumer lending sectors. The Fed noted banks have been adding to credit loss reserves to protect against potential credit losses. Access the full report here.
FTC to host virtual predatory pricing workshop
The Federal Trade Commission plans to host a virtual public workshop examining predatory pricing and its potential effects on consumers, competition, and innovation on Dec. 18. The workshop will be called “Competition Snuffed Out: How Predatory Pricing Harms Competition, Consumers, and Innovation” and will feature speakers with experience on how predatory pricing has impacted competition and consumers, according to an agency press release. Economists, academics, and antitrust litigators will discuss predatory pricing case law and economic scholarship during the event. Learn more here.
FHFA enables GSEs to offer more rental housing support
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced its intent to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide greater rental housing support by raising the multifamily loan purchase cap for each government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) to $73 billion. This increase represents a $146 billion bump in total 2025 multifamily market support and a more than 4 percent uptick from 2024. The FHFA is tasked with establishing these caps annually. Multifamily loans that finance workforce housing will be excluded from the 2025 limits, as they were this year when the cap for each GSE was $70 billion. Learn more here.
OCC appoints two large bank deputy comptrollers
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency tapped Robert Barnes and Kevin Greenfield to become deputy comptrollers for large bank supervision (LBS). Barnes previously served as a national bank examiner for more than 30 years. He has supervised banks of all sizes with domestic and international operations, and currently serves as the examiner-in-charge of Bank of America. Greenfield has served as a national bank examiner for more than 25 years and has been the acting deputy comptroller for LBS since August 2024. He returned to LBS following five years as director for bank information technology policy then five years as deputy comptroller for operational risk policy. Learn more about the new deputies here.