Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent separate letters to banking regulators on the anniversary of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, with Hagerty questioning the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s sale of Signature Bank's assets and Warren urging the regulators to tighten capital and liquidity requirements.

The head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Biden Administration said she will transition from public life starting March 22.

Regulatory reform – rather than Biden's proposed solutions – is needed to fix the inventory crisis, some say, but others applauded the president's buyer cost-cutting initiatives.

During a contentious exchange on his second day of congressional testimony this week, the Federal Reserve chair drew a line between the central bank's response to last year's bank failures and its current capital proposal.

In congressional testimony, the Federal Reserve chair said the Board of Governors is processing the comments on its capital reform proposal. Putting forth an entirely new proposal is "very plausible."

The letter, which was sent to bank regulators, represents a further escalation of lawmaker criticism of the Basel III endgame proposal, and comes just as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to testify in the House Financial Services Committee.

Rep. Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, led the letter, spurred by the recent merger announcement between Capital One and Discover, which the letter said would enable the merged company "to influence multiple points of the marketplace."

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said in a speech Tuesday that banks might need to establish margin to counteract counterparty risks presented by private funds.

The lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the deal would further anti-consumer bank consolidation, but also criticized the OCC's proposed changes to the merger process, asking that they be strengthened.

The blockbuster merger proposal will be reviewed at a time when the Biden administration is expressing skepticism about consolidation. Its analysis will have to account for markets dominated by both big banks and the likes of Visa and Mastercard.