Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Next Thursday, September 7, the Senate Banking Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will convene to hold an executive session to vote on the nominations of Joseph Otting to be Comptroller of the Currency, and the Honorable Randal Quarles to be member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and Vice Chairman for the supervision of the board of governors.

In a speech at the Federal Reserve's annual conference, Janet Yellen looked back at the financial crisis—as well as the insights, lessons, and reforms that came out of it. Read on to see more of Yellen's remarks.

The Fed votes on the fate of the federal funds rate once again today. What came of it this time?

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday the results of its Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or Stress Test, now in its 7th year. 34 banks participated with near unanimous results…

Close to 5,000 U.S. areas are eligible for consideration under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), according to a list released by several government agencies on Wednesday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System released their joint list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies today, which pinpoints the thousands of low- and moderate-income CRA-eligible communities across the nation. Enacted in 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act encourages banks to better meet the needs of the communities in which they operate.

The Federal Open Market Committee and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Board of Governors are set to meet Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14, in Washington D.C.. It will be their fourth meeting of 2017. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors, is scheduled to give press conference at 2:30 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell went on record saying the Fed plans on reviewing some of what he believes are the more outdated rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank act. Banks’ board of directors could see a relief of some of the day to day responsibilities and concentrate more on big picture if Powell is successful. Banks may also see more transparency in the CCAR, something a majority of the industry has been requesting for years.

As the Federal Reserve begins to normalize their balance sheet, speculators believe that the final product may be up to three times larger than it was before the financial crisis, if not bigger. The balance sheet refers to the portfolio of securities, such as various types of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), that it has purchased. Rising interest rates are sure to drive up rates in the housing market, and the Fed’s decision to pullback from mortgage-backed securities will only add to the rising rates.

The Federal Open Market Committee opted to keep the federal funds rate as-is during its May meeting. The FOMC raised the rate in March from 0.75 to 1 percent. It was largely expected that the FOMC would raise rates at least two more times over the course of 2017.

Many expect the Federal Reserve to begin pulling back from the MBS market later this year or early next. A new analysis delves into the options the Fed has for its pullback--as well as the impact each of those options may have on the market. Whichever the Fed choose, expert say it will impact mortgage rates either way.