The Federal Reserve has shown twice this week that it is open to applying its regulatory framework beyond the tidy little box where banks reside.
First, in comments to a fair-lending advocacy group Monday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) should cover all companies providing consumer credit.
About 80% of all government-backed mortgages in December originated from nonbank mortgage companies, to which the CRA doesn’t apply, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing research from the Urban Institute. That figure is up from about 50% in 2014.
