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WASHINGTON— A new Washington state tax aimed at credit union purchases of banks is already becoming a flashpoint far beyond this state’s capitol, with bankers cheering it as a long-overdue correction to what they call an uneven playing field and credit union advocates warning it could become a template for similar efforts in other states—while longtime dealmaker Michael Bell argues the law may end up hurting the very community banks its supporters say they want to protect.

WASHINGTON— The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has now formally advanced two interim final actions aimed at shielding national banks from Illinois’ Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, escalating the federal fight over the state’s controversial swipe-fee law and intensifying pressure on NCUA to determine quickly whether it will provide similar protection for federal credit unions ahead of the law’s July 1 effective date.

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear a case with potentially major implications for how FI robberies and other crimes are investigated, as the justices take up a challenge to the use of so-called “geofence warrants” that helped police identify the man who robbed Call Federal Credit Union in suburban Richmond, Va., in 2019, according to the Associated Press.

SAN FRANCISCO— Anthropic’s tightly controlled rollout of its Claude Mythos cybersecurity model has hit a concerning snag, with a small group of unauthorized users reportedly gaining access to the system shortly after the company began offering it to a select group of testers, according to The Verge, which cited earlier Bloomberg reporting.

WASHINGTON— President Trump’s escalating clash with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell took a new turn this past week, as the Justice Department moved to close its criminal probe of Powell even as Trump has continued to pressure him to leave the Fed entirely—keeping markets and Washington focused on the central bank’s independence and the increasingly messy transition at the top of the Fed.

WASHINGTON—Federal banking regulators have finalized a rule lowering the community bank leverage ratio to 8% from 9%, giving qualifying banks under $10 billion in assets more flexibility to use the simplified capital framework and easing a key regulatory threshold for smaller institutions.