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Main Street Ledger: Banks Are Partners in Building Resilience and Expanding Opportunity for American Consumers

This morning, Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) President and CEO Lindsey Johnson will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on an issue that is top of mind for millions of families, consumers, and small businesses across America: affordability.

While the economy and consumers remain remarkably resilient, the price of everyday essentials like housing, health care, food, transportation, and childcare continue to pressure household budgets, especially for those with the least room to absorb unexpected expenses. 

A median household earning approximately $68,000 after taxes can see nearly three-quarters of its income consumed by core expenses, leaving limited room to absorb unexpected costs. With 75% of Americans experiencing at least one expense shock each year, averaging about $5,000, access to responsible financial tools can make the difference between managing a challenge and facing a financial setback.

Fortunately, the nation’s leading retail banks are helping Americans meet that challenge by providing consumers with trusted, regulated tools that support financial resilience. Products such as credit cards, overdraft services, and home equity lines of credit can serve as a critical bridge when expenses arise, helping families manage short-term disruptions while maintaining long-term stability. These tools are especially important for consumers who may not have significant savings or other alternatives available.

Beyond lending and payments, banks are also leading the fight to protect consumers in an increasingly complex digital economy. Through investments in fraud detection, cybersecurity, payment security, and innovative technology, banks are helping safeguard Americans’ financial lives while working across industries to combat the growing threat of scams and fraud, which cost consumers billions each year.

As policymakers consider ways to address affordability, it is critical to recognize the underlying challenges driving higher costs while preserving access to financial tools that families rely on in times of need. Policies that may appear to provide quick relief — such as credit card rate caps — risk significant negative consequences of limiting access to credit, particularly for consumers with limited credit histories, and potentially pushing families toward less regulated and more costly options.

The path forward requires solutions that expand opportunity, strengthen financial stability, and address the root causes of affordability challenges. Banks cannot solve every economic or income challenges alone, but they remain an essential part of the solution in providing the shock absorbers consumers need to weather different expense or income shocks.

Through periods of uncertainty, disruption, and recovery, banks have stood with consumers, small businesses, and communities across America. That commitment matters most during moments of uncertainty, when families need trusted partners and responsible financial solutions. 

Policymakers can do more to strengthen that system even further by focusing on the true sources of affordability pressure—housing, vehicles, food and healthcare—while ensuring consumers continue to have access to the tools and institutions that are there to support them.

Read Johnson’s full testimony HERE.

Spotlight on Affordability

As Americans contend with rising cost pressures, the nation’s leading retail banks are committed to providing access to credit and capital, financial tools to unlock financial opportunity, and initiatives fueling economic growth for Main Streets across the country. 

Read below to learn about some of the many ways CBA members are helping consumers, small businesses, and communities thrive. To learn more, visit www.BanksMakeItPossible.com and www.SmallBusinessSpotlight.com.

Arvest Bank – The Arvest Opportunity Fund 

The Arvest Opportunity Fund works to help customers move from underbanked to fully banked status – especially consumers who are unable to meet traditional lending policies. Arvest helps underbanked customers make financial headway through funding and financial coaching and creates plans to help them move from underbanked to being able to access traditional banking products and services. By offering free credit review, providing budgeting help, and creating financial action plans, the Arvest Opportunity Fund offers an affordable means for consumers to access their future banking needs.

Bank of America – LA Rebuild Initiative 

Following the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, Bank of America set up a comprehensive, long-term recovery program to help communities, small businesses, and families rebuild. It provides financial assistance, small business support, workforce resources, and philanthropic investments to sustain Main Street businesses in the LA area, support families who are navigating rebuilding, and strengthening neighborhood resilience for all community members. By removing barriers to access, extending payment relief, and offering flexible repayment solutions, Bank of America provides affordable solutions to help a community rebuild after devastation.

Fifth Third Bank – Neighborhood Program  

Fifth Third’s Neighborhood Program focuses on providing economic development in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods by investing in financial services and social networks. By working with communities and partnering with local organizations, Fifth Third is able to invest capital in the areas that communities need the most, allowing for further economic growth and financial opportunity for residents.

Webster Bank – Financial Inclusion Program Mobile Banking Branch 

Webster Bank’s financial inclusion program partners with local nonprofits to address financial access challenges for communities in the South Bronx – including the creation of the mobile banking branch (Bronx People’s Federal Credit Union mobile branch) in partnership with the Bronx Financial Access Coalition. By eliminating fees and minimum balance requirements, the program removes barriers for consumers who historically were unable to access traditional banking services. Webster Bank meets the Bronx community directly where they are and provides an affordable means to reach financial success while also building trust between the bank and residents. 

What Else We're Watching

Fed Chair Warsh Completes First FOMC Meeting, Committee Votes to Hold Rates  

What Happened: Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s first meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded with a unanimous vote to hold on interest rates, with possible rate hikes later in the year.  

Why It Matters: The Federal Reserve's June decision underscores a significant shift in the interest-rate outlook for banks. While policymakers left rates unchanged, updated projections and Chair Warsh's comments signaled that rate cuts are no longer the base case and that a rate hike later this year is increasingly possible as inflation remains elevated. 

Between the Lines: However, the meeting differed in other ways – Fed Chair Warsh did not participate in this meeting’s Summary of Economic Projections, a tool that he has been a critic of, in addition to other forward guidance from the committee.  

What They’re Saying: In his press conference after the meeting, Warsh mentioned that he did not submit a “dot plot” grid and is forming task forces to overhaul other Fed operations.

  • “I did not submit a dot for me,” Warsh said, “it’s not helpful in the conduct of policy. I suspect by year-end, as I mentioned in my opening statements, there’ll be a review about communication broadly, press conferences, dots, meetings, and the like, transcripts, minutes. This will be part of that. I don’t want to prejudge the outcomes there, but I’m pretty open-minded about what they could be.” 

Yes, and: He also told reporters that he is committed to reducing inflation to two percent and maintained that AI will have a disinflationary impact on the economy. 

  • “The commitment to deliver is strong, unanimous, and unambiguous, and that’s I think an important message we’ve missed for five years, and we’re going to fix that,” Warsh said. 

Looking Ahead: The case for lowering rates has been complicated by a resilient labor market.  

  • Officials have adjusted their indications of where policy is headed from here – erasing an earlier indication for one cut this year and pushing reductions into 2027 and 2028. 

Dive Deeper: To read more, click HERE. 

Treasury Issues Updated Information-Sharing Guidance for Banks

What Happened: The Treasury Department recently issued guidance to banks indicating they may share information about suspected fraud with one another in real time, with assurances of legal protection if they do so.

Why It Matters: Previously, banks have been wary about comparing notes regarding fraud due to uncertainty around whether the law protects them when doing so. The updated language now asserts that they will be protected, allowing banks to collaborate when combatting fraud and scams.

Between the Lines: The guidance is part of a broader anti-fraud campaign by the administration. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sits on President Trump’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

What They’re Saying: In coverage of the announcement, American Banker notes that while banks have welcomed the shift, both the industry and experts note that the protections should be written into law.

  • Himamauli Das, a former acting director of Fincen now at the financial-crimes advisory firm K2 Integrity, commented that while the fact sheet gives banks much needed clarity, guidance is not binding in a similar manner as a law or regulation.  
  • Daniel Stipano, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, said banks have reason to want more than a fact sheet, stating: “the safe harbor has never been tested judicially so it is not clear whether a court would agree with Fincen's interpretation.” 

Dive Deeper: To read more, click HERE. 

Banks Prepare to Protect Consumers with the Advent of AI Agents

What’s Happening: Banks have spent years educating consumers on how to prevent scams by calling their bank directly to verify information, but the introduction of AI agents throws a new wrench into the fight, raising questions for banks, including on how to verify the credibility of AI agents transacting on a consumer’s behalf.  

Why It Matters: Banks are working hard to keep up with fraud directly aimed at their customers, but AI agents make detection problems more difficult when banks’ legacy fraud detection systems are built to combat human fraudsters and scammers.  

By the Numbers: U.S. consumers reported losing $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024 with investment scams the largest category at $5.7 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Data Book.  

  • The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center put total 2024 losses above $16.6 billion, with much of those losses coming from impersonation and scams that trick customers into approving payments themselves. 

What They’re Saying: At a digital banking conference last week, Industry leaders highlighted how banks are keeping up – and where they need more support – with these security threats. 

  • Chris Ward, head of enterprise payments at Truist, said that the fight is an asymmetric war, “we have to stop every transaction that is fraudulent getting through. The fraudsters just have to get one through.” 
  • Aging systems, specifically identity checks done only at login and rules that limit how freely banks can share fraud signals with one another, are holding back banks, according to Meena Athinathan, who leads banking at the consulting firm Cognizant 

Looking Ahead: Experts believe that rules and regulation around use of AI agents are necessary to decide who is responsible when these agents fail, but likely won’t come until there’s a “new set of accidents.” 

Dive Deeper: To read more, click HERE. 

The Week Ahead

📅 June 23, 2026, at 10 a.m.
U.S. Senate Banking Committee: Hearing on The Affordability Agenda
Washington, D.C., and Virtual

📅 June 24, 2026, 10 a.m.
U.S. House Financial Services Committee: Hearing on Future of Payments: Promoting Innovation and Fair Markets
Washington, D.C., and Virtual

📅 June 25, 2026, at 10 a.m.
U.S. House Financial Services Committee: Hearing on From Wall Street to Main Street: The Future of How America Invests
Washington, D.C., and Virtual

What We’re Reading

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