Data and information management

The 2020 budget would add the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and FSOC to congressional appropriations, charge lenders for FHA upgrades and require universities to have skin in the game on student loans.

Fixing the housing finance system is "the last piece of unaddressed business from the financial crisis," according to a summary of to-do items released by the Banking Committee's chairman.

A security lapse left millions of mortgage records exposed online without proper data protections, according to security researchers.

BBVA, BNP Paribas and MUFG recently used BBVA's blockchain to reach an agreement within 24 hours — instead of two weeks — to lend a Spanish power company $150 million.

“We have actually discouraged banks from innovating,” FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said in announcing a move that other agencies have made.

The Trump administration is making more than 80 recommendations to encourage financial innovation within a regulated space, including endorsing the creation of a federal fintech charter.

Startup LoanSnap, a company funded in part by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, has launched artificial intelligence that matches consumers with mortgages based on a complex analysis of their financial situation.

Credit reporting firms with significant operations in New York will face new cybersecurity and registration requirements to stave off concerns related to a breach of Equifax's systems last year.

Startup Block66 is using blockchain to create a mortgage audit trail for fraud prevention purposes and also plans to enable trading of securities lenders can use to increase their liquidity.

Ginnie Mae is looking to start a pilot program to securitize digital mortgages as early as 2019, but issuers would not be able to commingle loans using traditional paper files in those deals.

In a bid to cut time and costs from the mortgage process, Fannie Mae is testing whether appraisers can accurately determine a home's value without actually visiting the property.

JPMorgan Chase is sending signals that its homegrown blockchain, Quorum, is alive and well despite a recent shake-up.

The agency’s acting director uses a reply letter to the senator not to answer her questions but to underscore that Congress lacks the ability to compel answers to such questions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a scathing report Wednesday on Equifax's handling of the data breach last year, part of an effort to gain backing for legislation to rein in the credit bureaus.

The two senators are set to introduce a bill that would force such firms to pay $100 per customer whose personal information was compromised.

Testing of the common securitization platform is taking longer than expected, but the Federal Housing Finance Agency said it won't delay the 2019 launch of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's new single "uniform mortgage-backed security."

Calls for less reliance on credit bureaus and Social Security numbers for verification are leading many to envision a future of identity on a distributed ledger.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray is using the Equifax breach to suggest the CFPB be given power to examine credit reporting agencies for potential cybersecurity lapses.

Richard Smith came to Capitol Hill this week to speak about the massive breach at Equifax, but it was clear Tuesday that he will be defending the entire credit reporting industry.

The Equifax breach has millions of Americans now thinking about freezing their credit to guard against identity theft. But those who act could be cutting themselves off from the nation's vast credit economy.