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Online EducationABA Banking Journal: Trump administration seeks court permission to halve CFPB workforceApril 1, 2026
The CFPB had 1,758 employees in 2024, which represented a 5% increase from the year before, according to the agency’s annual financial report for that year. CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought has since sought to significantly reduce the bureau’s headcount, prompting a lawsuit from the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents bureau employees. In a detailed filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., attorneys representing the Trump administration requested permission to move forward with a reduction-in-force plan to shrink the CFPB’s current staffing from 1,174 to 556 employees. The reduction would be consistent with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced by half the statutory cap on the amount of funding available to CFPB from the Federal Reserve, they wrote. The reduced headcount would also meet the Trump administration’s directive to maximize the efficiency and productivity of the agency while fulfilling its statutory duties. “The [reduction-in-force] plan CFPB has now announced reflects a significant downsizing of the bureau from its operation under the prior administration — one that CFPB has determined nonetheless ‘allow[s] CFPB to continue meeting its statutory obligations,’” they wrote. In a separate court filing in another lawsuit, Vought announced his intention to request $75.8 million from the Fed to fund the bureau through the end of June. He disagreed that the bureau needed even that much, but said he was making the request to satisfy a court order. Back to TopABA Banking Journal: Proposed rule would give states ‘wide latitude’ to set stablecoin regulationApril 1, 2026
The Genius Act allows payment stablecoin issuers with a consolidated total outstanding issuance of less than $10 billion to opt for regulation under a state-level regulatory regime, provided that the state’s regime is “substantially similar” to the federal regulatory framework. The proposed rule would establish standards for determining whether a state framework meets those criteria. The rule provides states with “wide latitude” to deviate from federal regulations while still remaining “substantially similar” to the federal framework, according to the text of the proposal. Also, the term “state-level regulatory regime” is broadly defined “to provide states with discretion to design their regimes using a mix of legislation, regulation and enforceable guidance as they deem appropriate.” Among other things, the rule would give states broad discretion in certain areas, such as capital standards, while setting uniform state and federal standards for reserve requirements and for anti-money laundering and sanctions program requirements. Public comment on the proposal is due 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. Back to TopABA Banking Journal: Treasury Department announces resources for Financial Literacy MonthApril 1, 2026
“Understanding how to make informed financial decisions unlocks opportunity for every American and their families,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “We live in the greatest country in the history of the world and on the eve of our 250th anniversary, understanding what has driven our success is the key to our future and what will lead the nation successfully for the next 250 years.” (Watch a video statement from Bessent.) Individuals can visit MyMoney.gov to access centralized guidance and educational tools from across federal departments and agencies to help make informed financial decisions, according to the announcement. In related news, the American Bankers Association Foundation provides financial education programs and resources for bankers to strengthen the financial well-being of their communities, including Get Smart About Credit and Teach Children to Save. Full ArticleBack to TopABA DataBank: Inside bank decision-making on liquidity and contingent fundingResults from an ABA member survey shed new light on how banks really use liquidity sources and possible reforms.March 19, 2026 | Dan Brown and Aakash Gupta
What drives banks’ funding and liquidity decision-making? With liquidity policy in the Washington spotlight — amid debates about the Federal Home Loan Bank system and the Federal Reserve’s plans to modernize the discount window — it is critical that policymakers know how and why banks use different liquidity sources before pursuing change. ABA recently surveyed members on this subject. The survey indicates that convenience is a key driver of the decision to use a particular liquidity source, across all environments and that the FHLB system is a primary source of liquidity for many banks in almost all market conditions. Meanwhile, the discount window remains an important source of contingent liquidity — which leads to several opportunities for the Fed to improve the functioning of the window. This analysis includes some recommendations. Overview of collateralized borrowingCollateralized borrowing, where banks pledge assets to secure funding, is deeply embedded in banks’ liquidity practices. Almost 70 percent of institutions report the use of collateralized borrowing routinely. Banks typically keep a buffer of liquid assets to sell or use as collateral for borrowings in times of stress, for large banks the size of the buffer is determined by the liquidity coverage ratio. While there are several sources of collateralized borrowing, ABA’s survey focused on the FHLB System and the discount window. A diverse array of ABA member banks responded to the survey. The majority of respondents are community banks with less than $10 billion in assets, which largely tracks industry composition, where 96 percent of the 4,300 banks are community banks, 3 percent are midsize and 0.7 percent are regional and global systemically important banks. These findings come as the Federal Reserve is considering operational and policy changes intended to improve the effectiveness of the discount window. FHLB advances serve as the first stop for many banks seeking secured borrowings for day-to-day liquidity, while survey respondents mainly reserve the discount window for severe stress.
Across all stages of the business cycle, cost and convenience are the dominant decision drivers. Within the context of bank contingency planning, available collateral and relationship with provider move up in relative importance. FHLB useApproximately 98 percent of institutions reported using FHLB membership for liquidity purposes within the past 12 months. Survey respondents indicated a preference for FHLB advances over other sources of liquidity because they offer:
FHLB advances are used for both day-to-day liquidity and contingent liquidity, supporting a variety of risk management and lending activities (especially lending supporting housing initiatives) with cash and asset-liability management activities. On the lending side, FHLB borrowing supports single-family residential lending, small business lending, asset-liability management, and general cashflow and liquidity management. While virtually all banks use FHLBs for routine liquidity needs, nearly 40 percent of respondents also reported using FHLBs as a source of emergency liquidity. Making the window usable for banks of all sizesAlmost all, or 88 percent, of survey respondents describe themselves as operationally ready to use the discount window, meaning they have completed all the legal documentation and pledged collateral. Among those not ready, the main barrier includes burdens associated with pledging collateral. Three out of five respondents said “legal documents being too complex” was their number one reason for not being discount window-ready. Lack of an easy, online interface was ranked among the top three barriers for two-thirds of respondents. About a third of the banks that say they are not currently discount window-ready plan to become discount window-ready within the next year. Banks regularly test their lines at the discount window, with over 80 percent of respondents reporting they have used the discount window within the past year. Over 70 percent indicated that their last draw at the window was for testing purposes, with far fewer citing defensive liquidity or overdraft avoidance. These patterns are consistent with previous ABA research, which found banks primarily use the discount window as an emergency or backup facility rather than a day-to-day liquidity tool. The survey elicited detailed feedback on potential technical fixes and priority areas for discount window modernization. Overall, survey respondents viewed the discount window’s processes and procedures as too cumbersome. Survey respondents identified several priority areas for future discount window reform:
The survey included an open-ended question about how the discount window should be improved. Respondents suggested that an expansion of the discount window’s suite of funding products — especially longer-term options — and a simplification of the pledging process (particularly BIC arrangements) would be helpful. Further suggestions included: digitizing and consolidating discount window processes into a “one-stop shop” dashboard; standardizing collateral eligibility and reporting with FHLBs and other liquidity providers; and increasing automation. Together, these findings underscore the critical role that both the FHLB system and the discount window play in banks’ liquidity planning and highlight opportunities to modernize the discount window to better support institutions across all market conditions. Dan Brown is a senior director and economist, and Aakash Gupta is an economic research associate in ABA’s Office of the Chief Economist. ABA policy contacts on this issue are Alison Touhey and Joe Pigg.
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CISA News: The phone call is the new phishing emailVoice-based phishing was at the root of multiple attack sprees Mandiant responded to last year, reflecting a concerning shift in tactics.March 23, 2026 | Matt Kapko
Voice-based phishing, a form of social engineering where attackers call employees or IT help desks under false pretenses in an attempt to gain access to victim networks, surged in 2025, Mandiant said Monday in its annual M-Trends report. These points of intrusion, which have been a hallmark of attacks attributed to members of the cybercrime collective The Com, including offshoots such as Scattered Spider, accounted for 11% of all incidents Mandiant investigated last year. Exploited vulnerabilities remained the top initial access vector for the sixth-consecutive year, giving attackers footholds in 32% of all incidents last year, the company said. Yet, the rise of voice phishing marks a concerning shift in tactics, especially in large-scale attacks with sweeping impacts. “This type of social engineering attack is extremely powerful. It is more time consuming, obviously it requires skills and impersonation skills that the threat actors need to have, especially when they contact their IT help desk,” Jurgen Kutscher, vice president at Mandiant, told CyberScoop. “We’ve clearly seen several threat actors being very specialized and very successful with this type of attack.” Voice-based phishing was at the root of multiple attack sprees Mandiant responded to last year, including campaigns targeting Salesforce customers attributed to threat groups Google Threat Intelligence Group tracks as UNC6040 and UNC6240. This global shift in attacks was most clearly seen in the sharp drop in email-based phishing., For years, phishing has been a popular method because it’s cheap and requires little technical skill. It works much like high-volume advertising — a spray-and-pray strategy focused on reaching as many people as possible rather than specific targeting. Email phishing is no longer a top initial access vector, according to Mandiant. The incident response firm said it was only responsible for 6% of intrusions last year, down from 14% in 2024 and 22% in 2022. “The higher the investment, the higher the payout needs to be,” Kutscher said. “[Interactive phishing] takes a significant amount of time and investment. So as an attacker, you’ve got to do that when you believe that there’s a significant return.” These techniques are difficult to defend against because they’re designed to exploit human instincts and bypass many security controls. “We’ve always said, unfortunately the human tends to be the weakest link,” Kutscher said. Social engineering, of course, wasn’t the only way attackers gained access to victim networks last year. Exploited defects remain a persistent problem. The top three vulnerabilities Mandiant observed as the initial access vector in 2025 include CVE-2025-31324 in SAP NetWeaver, CVE-2025-61882 in Oracle E-Business Suite and CVE-2025-53770 in Microsoft SharePoint. Attackers of various origins and objectives exploited all three of the vulnerabilities en masse and as zero-days. Mandiant clocked 500,000 combined hours of incident response investigations globally last year, up from 450,000 hours in 2024. Technology companies were the most frequently attacked in 2025, accounting for 17% of all incidents. The following most-targeted industries included finance at 14.6%, business and professional services at 13.3% and health care at 11.9%. Back to Top
SDBA Seeking Candidates for 2026 Board Elections |
The Trump administration is asking a federal appeals court for permission to reduce the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s current workforce by more than half, according to a court filing.
The Treasury Department today proposed a new rule to establish what factors it will consider when stablecoin issuers request to be subject to state regulation rather than federal regulation, as permitted under the Genius Act.
The Treasury Department today recognized the start of Financial Literacy Month in April by announcing that federal agencies will use the month to spotlight events, initiatives and public engagement opportunities designed to strengthen financial knowledge and financial security.
40 and 50 Year Banker Awards
The ABA is partnering with the SDBA, as well as other state bankers associations, to bring you the 2026 Women Lead Symposium on July 30. This is a convenient virtual program designed to support both emerging leaders and experienced professionals in strengthening their leadership skills.
