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| MARKETS — as of Oct 27, 6:25 AM ET |
Equity futures S&P7,709-0.07% Nasdaq29,404-0.11% Dow52,556+0.01% Rates 2-Year4.71%0 bps 10-Year4.99%0 bps SOFR3.92%+2 bps Credit & risk High Yield3.38%-2 bps Crude102.50+0.73% Bitcoin$79,442-0.71%
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Tuesday, October 27 · Lead Appeals court orders Federal Reserve to rewrite debit swipe fee cap A federal appeals court on October 26 told the Federal Reserve to rewrite its cap on debit-card swipe fees, the interchange revenue larger banks earn each time a customer pays with a debit card. A three-judge Eighth Circuit panel affirmed a lower-court ruling from last year that vacated the 21-cent cap. The panel held that the Fed's rule does not follow Congress's intent in setting a limit. Merchants had argued the cap was set too high, and the court said the Fed must strip fixed-cost considerations out of its calculation. The opinion sets no deadline for the rewrite. | ▸ | What the opinion settles: The 21-cent cap stays in force for now: the panel's opinion takes effect only when the court issues its mandate, seven days after the 45-day window for seeking rehearing closes, so no earlier than December 17, and the district court had paused its vacatur during the appeal. Judge David Stras, writing for Judges Smith and Benton, read "incremental cost" as the cost of one more transaction, so fixed costs such as fraud-detection software cannot count. The Fed must set "standards," not a single flat cap, though it may use a proxy such as average variable cost. The cap applies to issuers with $10 billion or more in assets. A Sixth Circuit appeal in a Kentucky case that upheld the rule is still pending. |
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Oct 27, 6:00 AM ET
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REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) spent the days after its stablecoin rule drawing more institutions toward it. Ripple says its trust bank cleared the last approval step, and the agency asked community banks to consider issuing. A fintech lender's holding-company filing and a Call Report revision complete the federal docket. | ▸ | Ripple's trust bank, by the company's account: Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse announced on October 26 that the OCC had granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank. The OCC's public charter records still list only the December 12, 2025 conditional approval, TokenPost noted. Under Ripple's plan, the bank would manage reserves backing RLUSD, act as collateral trustee for holders and provide enterprise custody, while Ripple's New York-regulated subsidiary keeps issuing the coin. A national trust bank is uninsured and takes no deposits and makes no loans. Final approval is not yet an opening, and it is not approval to issue a payment stablecoin. |
| ▸ | Community banks invited to issue: In an October 26 post, the OCC said it is "encouraging the development of payment stablecoin capabilities within the community banking sector." It urged interested community banks to consider applying to become a permitted payment stablecoin issuer (PPSI), either directly or through a subsidiary. The post followed the agency's October 21 final rule, which takes effect January 18, 2027. The OCC has said applications open only after the Office of Management and Budget approves its forms; comments on those forms are due November 23. |
| ▸ | Upstart seeks a holding company: Upstart Holdings, Inc., of Burlingame, California, has applied to the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company by acquiring Upstart Bank, National Association, of Wilmington, Delaware. It would retain Upstart Network, Inc. and a long list of trusts and LLCs. Under Regulation Y, it would also conduct extending credit and servicing loans, as well as asset management. It would further conduct servicing and collection, plus data processing. Comments are due November 27. |
| ▸ | Call Report changes for the housing law: The OCC, Fed and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) asked for comment on revising and extending the Call Report (FFIEC 031, 041 and 051) for three years. The revisions relate to an FDIC interim final rule implementing section 902 of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and the agencies already hold emergency budget-office approval for them. The notice does not list the line items that change. Comments close December 28. |
| ▸ | Colorado AI rules near final: The American Fintech Council (AFC) asked Colorado's Department of Law on October 26 to narrow the human-review rights in its draft rules for the Automated Decision-Making Technology Act (SB 26-189), the law that replaced the state's 2024 AI Act and takes effect January 1, 2027. The new law drops the old exemption for banks and credit unions, so lenders using automated underwriting or pricing for Colorado consumers are in scope; sending the ECOA or FCRA adverse action notice satisfies its notice duty. AFC wants a streamlined review when a consumer raises no error or new evidence, warning that re-deciding every denial could create disparate treatment risk. The Department held its rulemaking hearing the same day, and the attorney general must finalize the rules by January 1. |
INDUSTRY AND AI SIGNALS | ▸ | Fed meeting opens: Federal Reserve policymakers begin a two-day meeting today, the fourth of Chairman Kevin Warsh's tenure. The Associated Press said they are likely to hold the key rate on Wednesday, six days before the midterm elections. The 10-year Treasury yield stood unchanged at 4.99 percent this morning. The 2-year was at 4.71 percent. Former Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida told CNBC he expects one more increase at the December meeting. The decision is due October 28. |
| ▸ | Anthropic's prospectus goes public: Anthropic filed its Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 26 to list Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ANT. It has not yet set a share count, price range or timeline. The filing shows $16.3 billion of revenue in the first half of 2026, against $1.16 billion a year earlier, and an $80.7 billion net loss. Goldman Sachs will lead the offering, The Information reported. CNBC said the deal could become the largest IPO in history. For institutions running its models in operations or customer channels, the risk factors read as a vendor disclosure. AP highlighted the chief executive's warning of risk to humanity from AI. OpenAI has filed confidentially and has said its debut likely waits until 2027. |
POLITICAL & LEGISLATIVE | ▸ | Warren on examiner powers: Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, asked the Fed, OCC and FDIC on October 23 to rescind two updated policies she says curb examiners' ability to issue supervisory warnings and enforcement actions. Her letter to Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman targets the Fed's September update to its supervisory operating principles. She argues it bars action unless harm is both abnormally likely and severe. She cited a June Texas Bankers Association survey in which 76 percent of banks reported more cyberattacks over the past year. |
WHAT'S COMING | ▸ | MRA rule in force: The OCC's rule on unsafe or unsound practices and matters requiring attention (MRAs), together with its correction, takes effect November 2, six days out. |
| ▸ | Transfer agents on a ledger: Comments on the SEC's transfer-agent proposal addressing distributed ledger technology (Release 34-106246; 91 FR 56946) close November 3, seven days out. Banks that serve as transfer agents have until then to weigh in on recordkeeping on a ledger. |
| ▸ | OCC filing today: The OCC filed an information-collection notice for publication on October 27. The advance listing did not describe its subject. |
ALSO NOTED | ▸ | Strategist Bank of southern New Hampshire said it received conditional approval from the FDIC and the State of New Hampshire, in a release distributed by EIN Presswire. | | ▸ | RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based crypto card provider, is considering a confidential US IPO filing by year-end, according to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources. | | ▸ | Meta plans a $95 billion stock offering to fund its AI expansion, with Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom as cornerstone investors, the Financial Times said. | | ▸ | Truist is seeking a buyer for insurance-premium lender Afco Credit, according to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, PYMNTS said. | | ▸ | Citi's Premium Boost program, which pays higher savings rates to deeper-relationship clients, went live October 26, Banking Dive said. |
WHAT IT MEANS | ▸ | The Eighth Circuit's debit ruling gives larger issuers a court instruction on method but no fee figure for 2027 planning. The panel told the Fed which costs to exclude, and the reports name no date for a new cap or say what applies meanwhile. Any rewrite would likely run through Fed rulemaking before it binds. That leaves debit interchange, a line larger banks budget each year, open for at least a proposal cycle. It falls to the same Board that meets on rates today. |
Dates That Matter Deadlines NOV 2
6d | Comments close: Exemption of Debt Obligations Issued by the European Union [SEC] | NOV 2
6d | Effective: Unsafe or Unsound Practices, Matters Requiring Attention [OCC] · Enhanced Transparency and Public Accountability of the Supervisory Stress Test Models [FRB] | NOV 3
7d | Comments close: Transfer Agent Rules [SEC] | NOV 4
8d | Comments close: Proposal of Special Measure Prohibiting the Transmittal of Funds Regarding Transactions [FinCEN] · Extensions of Credit to Insiders [FDIC] · Loans to Executive Officers, Directors, and Principal Shareholders of Member Banks [FRB] | NOV 9
13d | Comments close: Political Contributions by Certain Investment Advisers [SEC] |
Hearings & Events OCT 28
1d | FOMC: Federal Reserve interest-rate decision [FED] |
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30-Day Document Volume
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Today's inputs
| 62 docs | 20 high priority | 31 social | 535 news |
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Monitoring 102+ sources across federal agencies, state regulators, expert newsletters, social media, and news wires · Methodology |
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Lex
LexRegPulse Analyst
Primary-source research · AI-drafted · human‑reviewed
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From LexRegPulse
That's today's brief. A short note: the same engine that writes it each morning now runs inside banks and fintechs — scoped to your charter, your regulator, and your data, cited to primary text. It drafts and reviews policies, preps Call Reports, and turns what changed into what it means for us. See LexRegulator.com, or simply reply to this email.
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