Banking with Interest

Former Treasury undersecretary Jonathan McKernan explains why the department took a more active role coordinating bank regulation and what officials hoped to accomplish with a broader regulatory reset. He also discusses lessons from the 2023 bank failures, changes to capital, liquidity and AML rules, and how AI could reshape deposit competition and the banking system itself.

Brendan Pedersen, financial services reporter for Punchbowl News, breaks down why the CLARITY Act's prospects have deteriorated, including a renewed revolt by community banks over stablecoin yield and growing Democratic resistance to the crypto industry. He also discusses whether crypto's political clout is beginning to fade and a potential challenge to Maxine Waters for leadership of the House Financial Services Committee.

Penny Crosman, American Banker's executive editor for technology, discusses why some banks dominate AI-generated answers while others are nearly invisible, including tackling what community banks can do to improve their visibility.

Over the past year and a half, Acting CFPB Russell Vought has sought to largely shut down the CFPB by severely cutting staff, stopping enforcement actions and cutting back on supervision. But with the nomination of a new director, Brian Johnson, is that about to change? Alan Kaplinsky, senior counsel at Ballard Spahr and author of the Consumer Finance Monitor blog and host of its weekly podcast, discusses how the CFPB may change and what it will mean for banks.

Lindsey Johnson, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, talks about why affordability concerns are putting renewed political pressure on banks over credit card rates, overdraft and late fees. She also tackles the future of the CFPB, open banking, crypto legislation, agentic AI and why she's optimistic in the fight against fraud.

Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel, tackles how durable the Trump administration's fast-moving regulatory and other changes are likely to be for banks. He discusses what banks still misunderstand about Washington, why the M&A environment is improving, what Kevin Warsh's first press conference signaled, and what the midterm elections could mean for bank regulation if Democrats win back one chamber or both.

Michael Bright, CEO of the Structured Finance Association and a former head of Ginnie Mae, joins the show to discuss the state of the U.S. housing finance system nearly two decades after the financial crisis. He explains why he does not think the system is fundamentally broken, what policymakers still misunderstand about the secondary mortgage market, and how issues like GSE reform, Basel III, private credit and fraud could reshape housing finance in the years ahead.

Alex Johnson, founder of Fintech Takes , details why many banks are thinking about AI the wrong way. He updates his views on stablecoins vs. tokenized deposits, discusses why fintech competition remains a potent threat to banks and talks about why the bigger issue may be how customers use AI to make financial decisions.

Banks have fought a comprehensive effort to ensure stablecoins cannot offer yield. But the Senate Banking Committee passed a bill that the banking industry still says falls short. Does that mean banks have lost the fight? Will a crypto market structure bill pass this year? Brendan Pedersen of Punchbowl News offers insights into the current and future state of play.

Andrew Olmem, managing partner of Mayer Brown's Washington office and a former deputy director of the National Economic Council, talks about how the second Trump administration has moved much faster than the first to reshape financial regulation. He discusses why he believes bank supervision became too bureaucratic and too focused on process, how the administration is approaching capital and the Fed, and what stablecoins, the Clarity Act and OCC preemption could mean for the future of the regulatory system.

Richard Hunt, executive chairman of the Electronic Payments Coalition, discusses the expanding fight over interchange and why the battle is no longer centered only in Washington. He explains what is happening in states like Illinois and Colorado, why the OCC stepped in, and what could happen next in the courts and legislatures.

Nick Timiraos, chief economics correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, discusses the unusually fraught transition now underway at the Federal Reserve. He tackles why Jerome Powell's decision to stay on the board matters, what Kevin Warsh will face if he takes over as chair, and whether the future of the role may be irrevocably altered.

Deposit strategist Neil Stanley sits down with guest host Barb Rehm to discuss how AI is changing depositor behavior, pricing strategy, and the future of bank funding. He explains why static rate sheets and traditional CDs may become increasingly vulnerable as AI tools help customers optimize their cash automatically, and why banks will need more dynamic pricing, personalization, and frontline expertise to stay competitive.

Penny Crosman, executive editor for technology at American Banker , talks about the growing risk of "rogue AI" in banking and why generative and agentic AI have changed the stakes for the industry. She discusses how banks are trying to balance the pressure to adopt AI quickly with the need to control operational, reputational, and cyber risks, including the threat of cascading errors and increasingly powerful models like Anthropic's Mythos.

Mike Hsu, the former acting Comptroller of the Currency, explains how waiting to adopt artificial intelligence has become a risk for banks and their regulators. He discusses why AI does not fit neatly into existing risk frameworks, how agentic AI is changing the cyber threat landscape, and why both banks and supervisors need to get more hands-on with the technology.

Sam Sutton, author of Politico's Morning Money , discusses Kevin Warsh's nomination to lead the Federal Reserve and the difficult position he could find himself in almost immediately once confirmed. Sutton breaks down how the conflict with Iran, inflation risks, political pressure from President Trump and the continuing investigation into Jerome Powell are all complicating the transition in leadership at the central bank.

Nick Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute and a leading critic of central bank digital currencies, explains why the CBDC fight is not over even as many in Washington have turned against it. He discusses why some opponents are unhappy with the Senate's proposed ban tucked into the housing bill, why he is suing the government for a Justice Department analysis on the Fed's legal authority, and why broader financial surveillance may be the bigger issue.

Federal regulators released their third effort at implementing Basel III in three years, with this one taking a radically different approach to the previous two under the last administration. What does this version do and will it stick? John Heltman, Washington Bureau Chief of American Banker, breaks down what has changed, the reaction by banks, and whether we've reached the beginning of the end for Basel III Endgame.

Both the House and Senate have passed bipartisan bills designed to promote housing affordability, but the two chambers are now squaring off with each other over a final version, including whether it should include community bank regulatory relief provisions. Brendan Pedersen, financial services senior policy reporter at Punchbowl News and editor of its Vault newsletter, breaks down the debate, how it became so contentious, and what will happen next.

Kathy Kraninger has seen the banking system from both sides of the regulatory divide. The former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and now president and CEO of the Florida Bankers Association joins the show to discuss whether Washington is undergoing a regulatory "recalibration" including everything from whether banks will be required to collect citizenship information to the growing challenges banks face from fraud, scams, and rapidly evolving technologies like artificial intelligence.