JPMorgan Chase is facing a $348.20 million fine from the Federal Reserve and the OCC for "unsafe or unsound" banking practices related to its trade surveillance program. The bank's deficiencies in monitoring traders and clients for potential market misconduct led to the penalty and cease-and-desist orders, requiring extensive improvements to its trade surveillance program. This is part of a pattern, as the bank has paid a total of $39.34 billion in fines since 2000, despite making $49.6 billion in profit last year.
A federal judge has ruled against the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), stating that the agency does not have broad authority to address discriminatory banking practices. The ruling, which came as a result of a lawsuit filed by industry groups, prevents the CFPB from enforcing its anti-discrimination policy against the trade groups' members. The CFPB is reviewing the decision and considering options for an appeal. The industry groups argued that the CFPB unlawfully expanded its authority beyond existing fair lending laws, and the judge ruled in their favor. The CFPB had announced earlier this year that it would examine financial institutions' practices for illegal discrimination as part of its broader mandate.
Sixteen Republican attorneys general accused the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Comptroller of the Currency of contributing to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) by prioritizing President Biden’s climate agenda over sound banking practices. They detailed the Biden administration's directive to banks to give climate-related risks special treatment and to downplay investment in traditional energy infrastructure, factors that they say led to the demise of SVB and possible other financial institutions in the future. The AGs charged that the federal leaders’ "lack of focus on true systemic and prudential risk issues creates concern about the health of the financial system in general, as investors have fled bank stocks in recent days."
