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Online EducationCompliance AllianceABA Banking Journal: FDIC’s Hill outlines policy proposals on stablecoin insurance, bank failuresMarch 11, 2026
In coming months, the FDIC will seek to clarify that payment stablecoins are not eligible for FDIC pass-through insurance, end restrictions preventing nonbanks from purchasing failed banks, and pursue several changes to its supervision programs, agency Chairman Travis Hill said today at the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit. In prepared remarks, Hill said the proposed changes are meant to promote “a pro-growth agenda that supports a dynamic banking system, while still upholding our core safety and soundness mission.” Stablecoins and deposit insuranceAs part of its implementation of the Genius Act, the FDIC is planning to propose that payment stablecoins subject to the law are not eligible for pass-through insurance. The Genius Act is silent on the issue, but treating stablecoin reserves as insured deposits of the stablecoin holder on a pass-through basis would seem to violate the law’s prohibition on deposit insurance for stablecoins, Hill said. “In my view, we should answer this question definitively by regulation, rather than waiting until a bank that holds stablecoin reserves fails, when different parties may have different expectations on the availability of FDIC insurance,” he said. Nonbanks and failed banksThe FDIC plans to lower barriers preventing nonbanks from purchasing failed banks to mitigate the hit to the Deposit Insurance Fund following a large bank failure, Hill said. The agency will soon rescind a 2009 policy statement that created several restrictions for the purchase of failed banks, such as conditions on capital standards. It is also working with other banking agencies to possibly create an emergency exception that would enable a nonbank to rapidly set up a shelf charter to bid on a failed institution following a sudden failure. In addition, the FDIC is working to enhance its understanding of deposit behavior. It recently conducted a study of transaction-level data following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other banks in 2023 and plans to make public some of its findings in coming weeks. Anti-money laundering policyThe FDIC is working with other agencies to develop a new program rule to implement the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Act in a manner that enables banks “to devote more time, talent and technology to the areas that present the highest risk,” Hill said. The FDIC also is rethinking its supervisory process to encourage banks to adopt new technologies that could be used to identify and report suspicious activity, he added. “I have heard of some reluctance to adopt these technologies because of fear that examiners will require parallel technology runs, play ‘gotcha’ for past failures that new technologies reveal, or impose costly proofs of performance,” Hill said. “At the FDIC, we want banks to innovate in this space, and we will ensure our supervisory approach encourages it. We want resources laser-focused on risks and outcomes, not rote, mindless processes.” Compliance and examsThe FDIC is exploring a “range of improvements” to its consumer compliance program. “Our goal is to reorient our focus more towards noncompliance with laws and regulations, and actual harm to consumers, as opposed to policies and procedures, training and other process-related considerations,” Hill said. As part of a rethinking of FDIC compliance exams, the agency is exploring guardrails around the use of “visitations” outside specified examination cycles, so that they are only used in rare circumstances. It also plans to increase the dollar thresholds that dictate the severity of violations. Hill also noted the FDIC is working with the other banking agencies to soon issue risk-based capital standards for the largest banks. In addition, they plan to issue a second proposal that would improve risk sensitivity for all banks – other than CBLR banks – particularly in critical lending categories such as residential mortgage lending, consumer lending, and corporate lending. “The intended result is more lending and a more level regulatory playing field between the largest and smaller institutions,” Hill said. Back to TopABA Foundation Launches New Credit Education CampaignLindsay Torrico, ABA
In honor of National Consumer Protection Week and National Credit Education Month, ABA Foundation proudly launched the Rebuild Right: Safe Credit Recovery & Responsible Debt Solutions campaign on March 4. This new national initiative is designed to empower consumers to rebuild credit responsibly and avoid harmful financial pitfalls. The campaign, hosted in collaboration with the Wells Fargo Foundation and Working Credit, aims to equip both consumers and bank volunteers with reliable information, practical tools, and expert insights to help them navigate credit challenges with confidence. As part of this effort, the ABA Foundation and Working Credit created a series of practical, easy‑to‑use tip sheets that bankers can share with customers to explain safe, effective ways to strengthen their credit. You'll find the tip sheets attached, and you can access the full suite of resources at aba.com/rebuildright. Throughout March, we're also hosting a National Credit Education Month blog series on the ABA Banking Journal. Each weekly post highlights strategies, tools, and best practices from partner organizations working on the front lines of credit education. You can read the first installment, Understanding Today's Credit Landscape, here. We encourage you to use these resources in your communications with the banks in your states. If there's additional information that would be helpful, please don't hesitate to reach out! Thank you for your continued leadership in helping consumers build stronger financial futures. Back to TopABA Banking Journal: Bowman: Kraken master account approval was ‘pilot’ for nonbank access to Fed systemMarch 11, 2026
Bowman said that Kraken, a Wyoming-chartered special-purpose depository institution, falls into a grey area between federally regulated depository institutions, for which Fed access is a “no brainer,” and another category of firms that absolutely do not qualify. The Kansas City Fed’s approval of an account for Kraken, for a one-year period and with specific conditions, was “a way we can test how this is going to work,” she commented. “We’re trying to learn.” Should problems arise, she added at that “there are a number of ways we can address behaviors that are not consistent with having a master account.” Bowman also addressed a number of other issues, including whether supervisors are “calibrating appropriately and tailoring in the right ways” with various asset thresholds. For example, she noted that the Fed’s supervisory practice in recent years has been to start asking banks to comply with requirements of $100 billion-asset banks once they reach $80 billion in assets, which she said “is not what was intended when the framework was established.” Bowman said she is pushing the Fed to use asset thresholds to ease banks into compliance in a staged way. She also said that the prudential banking regulators would jointly propose a new round of Basel III “endgame” rules in the next few weeks. Bowman is scheduled to outline the proposals in greater detail tomorrow in a speech at a Washington, D.C., think tank. Full ArticleBack to TopABA Banking Journal: Nichols: Stablecoin, fraud fight top list of industry advocacy prioritiesMarch 10, 2026
Nichols cited data from a new ABA/Morning Consult Survey that showed that by a three-to-one margin, Americans want Congress to bar stablecoin issuers and affiliates from offering interest and rewards if it could harm banks’ ability to provide loans and promote economic growth. In addition to stablecoin, Nichols also expressed the industry’s support for the SCAM Act, a new bill co-sponsored by Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) in the Senate, and Reps. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), that would force social media companies to take reasonable steps to remove scam ads from their platforms. Finally, Nichols highlighted the need for bankers to stay engaged on credit card-related issues, including an effort to impose a 10% interest rate cap, which could see as many as 159 million Americans lose access to credit were it to be enacted. “Bankers know that government price controls and mandates don’t work,” Nichols said. “And at a time when Americans are struggling to make ends meet, the last thing they need are policies that make credit less accessible, take away their credit card rewards and undermine our modern, efficient and secure card payment system.” Back to TopABA Banking Journal: Sen. Rounds calls for open negotiations on market structure billMarch 10, 2026
Any legislation on market structure for stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies — such as the Clarity Act — must be fully evaluated in public, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said today at the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit. “A lot of the bill is being negotiated behind the scenes,” said Rounds, who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “Let’s make sure the entire industry has a chance to look at this in the light of day.” Rounds emphasized that “stablecoin is for real; it’s not going to go away.” As a result, he said, it is important for regulations to make sure everyone has a chance to participate in the market on equal footing and that regulations don’t drive stablecoin activity offshore. Rounds also discussed the Streamline Act, which he co-sponsored and that would increase the thresholds for currency transaction reports and suspicious activity reports and index them to inflation going forward. “You folks don’t need to be reporting transactions of $10,000,” he told bankers. “There are so many [reports] going on because it hasn’t been updated.” Back to TopCISA News: Disinformation on U.S.-Iran war takes over the internetMarch 4, 2026 | Chase DiBenedetto
According to experts, the posts had accumulated hundreds of millions of views in just a handful of days. The growing number of viral posts — and the potential for even more to pop up as users earned cash for the viral falsehoods — was alarming enough to prompt X to edit its policies on misinformation. As of yesterday, X says it will suspend users from its Creator Revenue Sharing program if they post AI-generated content depicting armed conflict without labeling it as such. And not even Google searches are safe from misinformation these days. The proliferation of digital misinformation is the product of a web of bots and engagement farming accounts, all with the shared goal of being the loudest, most clicked-on account in the room. Some hope to win political and social influence, others just want the money. Meanwhile, users, prone to confirmation bias and a reliance on digital news sources, repeatedly fall victim to their racket. Engagement farming, no longer just exchanging the currency of memes and clickbait, has become a dangerous, politically fraught game. What users are seeing as the U.S.-Iran conflict ragesRecent posts engaging in active disinformation about the conflict in Iran primarily involve exaggerating the scale and success of Iranian counterattacks, experts explain. A recent investigation by Wired documented hundreds of posts across Elon Musk's X that included misleading footage and photos — including AI-manipulated content — or promoted false claims about the scale of the attacks, many of which were posted in the immediate aftermath of missile strikes. A post with more than 4 million views claimed to show ballistic missiles sailing over Dubai, but actually depicted an Iranian attack on Tel Aviv in Oct. 2024. Another with more than 375,000 impressions shows a fictitious before-and-after image of the shelled compound of assassinated Iranian leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. According to Wired, nearly all of the posts were shared by premium subscriber accounts with blue checkmarks, including state-funded media outlets in Iran. As in previous military conflicts, accounts have also attempted to pass off video game footage as verified news clips, including AI-manipulated images of downed F-35 fighter jets ripped from flight simulator games. The images have been shared across TikTok, some with links to Russian influence operations, the BBC reported. In addition to out-of-context footage and misleading content, the BBC also documented a handful of completely AI-generated videos that had amassed nearly 100 million total views, shared by what the outlet calls notorious "super-spreaders" of disinformation.
A report from misinformation watchdog NewsGuard also chronicled a cadre of users sharing viral posts circulating false claims of targeted military strikes against U.S. and Israeli strongholds, predominately using repurposed video footage and out of context or completely recontextualized images of destruction.
"[These videos] are posted by anonymous accounts that tend to report on geopolitical conflicts. These are accounts that are known to NewsGuard for spreading exaggerated claims, usually from a pro-Iran perspective," said Sofia Rubinson, senior editor of NewsGuard's Reality Check newsletter and co-author of the report. From there, Rubinson explains, other accounts with larger followings pick up and spread the false claims. For example, hours after initial reports of the U.S.'s military strikes in Iran, users on X began reposting an image of a sinking naval aircraft carrier. Users claimed that it showed a recent attack on the battleship USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The U.S. military's Central Command issued a statement refuting the claim that same day. NewsGuard confirmed the image actually showed the intentional sinking of the USS Oriskany that took place nearly 20 years ago. The claim was shared by unverified "news" accounts and even Kenyan parliamentary member Peter Salasya. Salasya's post has been viewed more than 6 million times. Multiple accounts, including Salasya's, shared another video allegedly showing Israel's Dimona nuclear power plant under siege by air. The video racked up hundreds of thousands of impressions across anti-Israel and pro-Iran pages — an X Community Note now appears below the video on Salasya's page, clarifying the images are of a March 2017 attack in Balaklia, Ukraine. NewsGuard found that such posts have already garnered at least 21.9 million views across X. Posts inducing fear of domestic retaliatory attacks have also circulated online, including an unverified list of U.S. cities alleged to be top targets for Iranian sleeper cells — the list appears to have been written in Apple's Notes app. Disinformation is only going to get worseThe acceleration of advanced generative AI and relaxed moderation policies across social media platforms has exacerbated an online misinformation crisis, experts have warned. Particularly over recent months, including during the U.S.-led capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, NewsGuard researchers have noticed a pattern in online disinformation emerging over periods of breaking news. "People now have a shorter window for the lapse between an event occurring and authentic visuals coming out of the media," explained Rubinson. To put it more bluntly: Users are losing their patience, used to an online environment where information is usually right at your fingertips. These brief periods, or voids, between breaking news reports and confirmed video or photos become fertile ground for disinformation bots and engagement farmers, Rubinson says. They also threaten to reinforce conspiratorial thinking — that mainstream news outlets are keeping information from the public, for example — and lend themselves to a user's own confirmation bias. Political conflict is particularly rife for the spreading of such misinformation, which is in turn strengthened by active disinformation campaigns from both sides of armed conflict. Researchers have found that a lack of proximity to events makes it easier to believe out of context or exaggerated information. "It's an attempt to fill this fog of war," said Rubsinson. "It can be very overwhelming for people. They want to make sense of it, and visuals are a good way for us to process what is going on in war when we can't comprehend the scale of these conflicts." This becomes a greater problem as individuals increasingly use social media platforms as sole sources for news and as previously reliable fact-checking tools, including straightforward Google searches, become more unreliable. AI is harming more than helpingAI chatbots and search have become embedded into the very fiber of real world crisis events, as users turn to them real time fact checkers. Rubinson said that nearly every X post NewsGuard analyzed included the same reply: "@Grok is this true?" But AI assistants and platform chatbots, including X's Grok, are notoriously unreliable at disseminating and verifying breaking news. They are also inconsistent at applying their own platforms' moderation policies. The BBC found that Grok erroneously verified recent AI-generated images depicting Iranian military movements, for example. According to a second report by NewsGuard published March 3, Google AI-powered Search Summaries have repeated misleading claims about the U.S.-Iran conflict when prompted with reverse image searches. For example, NewsGuard researchers uploaded a frame from a video shared online claiming to show the destruction of a CIA outpost in Dubai. Google's AI summary verified the story, writing: "The image shows a fire at a high-rise residential building in Dubai, UAE, reportedly occurring on March 1, 2026, following regional tensions. … Conflicting reports emerged regarding the cause, with some sources mentioning a drone strike and others referring to the building as a specific intelligence facility." The video actually depicts a 2015 residential fire in the city of Sharjah. Security experts have sounded alarm bells over such "AI information threats," including AI tools used to generate and amplify misleading content. A report by the UK Centre for Emerging Technology and Security suggests the worsening information environment may pose existential threats to public safety, national security, and democracy without direct intervention. Meanwhile, civilians and journalists on the ground in Iran are fighting back against a near total internet blackout, following a massive push by the Trump administration and its ally Elon Musk to get Starlink internet connections to those on the ground. Bad actors, on the other hand, are still finding their way through the block and back onto sites like X. Back to Top
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Speaking to an audience of more than 1,400 bankers in Washington, D.C., today, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols emphasized three key issues where banker advocacy is needed, including closing a critical loophole in the Genius Act that threatens to divert bank deposits into digital asset wallets — which could have negative consequences for bank lending.
Before the dust had settled on the ruins of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school — a casualty of the recent U.S.-Israel military strikes against Iran, and one which resulted in the 
The South Dakota Bankers Foundation annually offers five named scholarships awarded directly to students attending a South Dakota college who are pursuing a career in banking or finance. Applicants must be in their junior year, entering their senior year of college during the 2026-2027 school year. Please refer to your academic handbook if you need clarification for junior/senior credit qualifications. 
The Dakota School of Lending Principles, hosted by the South Dakota Bankers Association and co-sponsored by the North Dakota Bankers Association on April 7-10, 2026, in Pierre, S.D., is a learning event with one foot grounded in the classroom and one foot in the bank. This school allows students to learn the theory and process of basic lending and then put this knowledge to work in actual nuts and bolts sessions.
Episode 121: The Art of Prioritizing Risks