Weekly Infobyte: Reducing the Cost of Data Breaches

The Federal Open Market Committee announced that it would lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75-5%.

The Justice Department announced that it would no longer use its 1995 bank merger guidelines and instead rely on its 2023 merger guidelines to review proposed mergers across all industries, including banks.

ABA and six financial industry associations said that they continue to oppose a proposed data privacy bill that would conflict with privacy requirements already in place for banks and other financial institutions.

The OCC released the second quarter 2024 mortgage metrics report, which showed that 97.3% of first-lien mortgages in the federal banking system were current and performing at the end of the quarter.

Housing starts increased by 9.6% in August from the month prior to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million, the Commerce Department reported.

The FDIC and OCC issued new policies that expand the factors both will take into consideration when reviewing bank merger applications, with the OCC eliminating its expedited review process and the use of streamlined applications.