Podcast: How Esquire Bank carved out a profitable niche serving law firms

The FDIC announced that it will push back to May the deadline for comment on its proposal to create a process through which banks can seek agency approval to issue stablecoins through a subsidiary.

A proposal to create “payment accounts” to provide basic Federal Reserve payment services requires “careful design and robust risk mitigants” to uphold the integrity of the payments system and protect the public interest, ABA said.

In his second day of congressional testimony, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will work to ensure there is “no deposit volatility” associated with a market structure bill for digital assets currently before Congress.

Major tech platforms make billions of dollars from scammers who advertise on their sites, according to reporting from Reuters, and there’s not much incentive for them to change their practices — yet.

ABA participated in a meeting at the White House with other banking representatives and cryptocurrency leaders to discuss proposed crypto market structure legislation currently pending in Congress.

Banks expect lending standards generally to remain unchanged and demand to strengthen across all loan categories in 2026. Banks also reported being less likely to approve loans to firms adversely affected by high AI exposure.