The Wall Street Journal: Powell Says Low-Income Lending Rules Should Apply to All Firms Offering Consumer Credit

The Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2021, Powell Says Low-Income Lending Rules Should Apply to All Firms Offering Consumer Credit

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said rules on lending in low-income communities should be extended to cover all firms providing consumer credit, not just banks.

“Like activities should have like regulation,” Mr. Powell said, speaking to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a fair-lending advocacy group.

The remarks signaled Mr. Powell’s support for efforts to overhaul a more-than-40-year-old law called the Community Reinvestment Act

 to encompass non-banks that increasingly provide the bulk of credit to individual borrowers, particularly in the $11 trillion mortgage market.