The Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policy and post-crisis regulatory structure is having an unintended and counterproductive effect: it's making it harder for ordinary Americans to get ahead. That argument, detailed in a paper released Monday by Federal Financial Analytics, analyzed academic research from across the globe to assess the impact of the prolonged ultra-low interest rate environment on asset prices. The conclusion is that while those accommodative policies have spurred economic activity in some areas, it has primarily resulted in the growth of assets like equities and securities that are disproportionately held by the wealthy.

Carver Federal Savings Bank CEO Michael T. Pugh was recently interviewed on The Karen Hunter Show, which airs on SiriusXM Urban View, Channel 126. During the interview, Mr. Pugh spoke with Karen Hunter about the challenges and opportunities that Black-managed banks face and how important a bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) Rating is to determining whether that bank is providing loan capital to the communities it operates in.

The Financial CHOICE Act would change the CFPB’s structure and regulatory power, and would help community financial institutions by ending Operation Choke Point.

Banks, weighing factors that include cost-efficient underwriting, keeping credit losses under control, and regulators' caution on products such as deposit advance, struggle to create workable credit products that meet the short-term borrowing needs of low- and moderate-income customers. This prevents those customers from climbing the traditional bank credit ladder, and drives them to seek other options. Consequently, the landscape is saturated with more than 50,000 alternative financial services storefronts and websites that include check cashers, auto title lenders, pawnshops and the like. These alternative lenders are often labeled "fringe," but one in four households use them regularly.