Safety and soundness rule puts nonmaterial risk onus on banks
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’smove to narrow bank supervisors’ ability to flag unsafe or unsound practiceswould give banks more discretion over how they manage supervisory risks — but with that flexibility comes greater responsibility for addressing small problems before they become big ones.
That distinction could materially change the dynamic between examiners and banks director at the Klaros Group and a former banking and administrative law professor at Georgia State University and former FDIC lawyer.More here
Walmart-linked fintech’s banking incursion reaches autos
Walmart’s quest to be a financial services provideris accelerating as an affiliate fintech expands its reach into auto finance.
OnePay launched My Garage, enabling a variety of auto-related payments and access to financial information through a single feature. Walmart is the majority owner of OnePay, which is also backed by Ribbit Capital and central to the big box retailer’s financial app strategy.
“Your car is one of the biggest expenses in your life, but most people have no idea what it’s worth, what they still owe, or whether they’re overpaying for insurance,” Pat McLoughlin, general manager of Marketplace at OnePay, said in an email to American Banker.More here.
Pulte: ‘cartel-like’ bureaus should cut costs, eyes bi-merge
Federal Housing Finance Agency DirectorBill Pulte is renewing calls for lower credit reporting costs, calling the bureaus “cartel-like” as he shows new interest in tri-merge alternatives.
“Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have been overcharging Americans for far too long. This will end soon. We are seriously considering bi-merge, and stronger solutions,” Pulte said in one of his closely-watched social media posts on Thursday night.
In later X posts on Friday, he added that FHFA is “also studying the usage of just one credit report.”More here.
Citi’s use of Swift blockchain extends tokenized deposits’ reach
Citi began using Swift’s new distributed ledger last weekto make its tokenized deposits work beyond its own network of branches and clients.
The New York bank began offering Citi Token Services two years ago; it was one of American Banker’s2025 Innovations of the Year. It enables the near-instant movement of tokenized deposits across accounts within Citi’s network at any time, including after business hours and on weekends.
Citi and other banks that have developed their own tokenized deposits face a challenge: These digital deposits work only on a bank’s own proprietary distributed ledger, unless it joins a network that somehow connects them.More here.
Banks, credit cards fall out of favor for bill pay
Debit cards and biller sites have become popular for bill payment, creating competitive risk for banks. The 2026 ACI Speedpay Pulse Report shows that the use of debit cards for bill pay has risen meaningfully since the pandemic, roughly 10 basis points, while credit card usage has barely budged over the same stretch.
The findings are especially instructive given that only 47% of Americans polled said they could cover an emergency expense of $1,000, and slightly more than a quarter of Americans—29%—have more credit card debt than emergency savings, according to Bankrate’s annual emergency savings report.
Here are four major takeaways from the ACI Speedpay report.
