Despite earlier reports from ADP, U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in December amid a decline in retail employment, but a pick-up in monthly wage gains pointed to labor market strength that could pave the way for the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates in March. (Reuters)

On the latest episode of the ABA Newsbytes Podcast, career banker and leadership coach Ditu Kasuyi joins Sara Reid, leader of ABA’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, plus co-hosts Evan Sparks and Shaun Kern to discuss why — and how — banks can enhance the diversity of their workforces. (ABA Banking Joural)

With the start of a new year, bankers are facing a risk landscape that is at once familiar and evolving. From concerns about third-party relationships to the challenges businesses face in workforce management, risks and their impacts are more interconnected than ever before. Each functional area has the potential to influence risks in the others. (ABA Banking Journal)

If mobile wallets are so much easier, why haven’t more consumers embraced them? Fiserv's Jon Rosner has a theory based on online banking adoption from 1998 to the present. (Pymnts.com)

Less than a week in, and 2018 is already setting records. The Dow Jones industrial average on Thursday closed above 25,000 points for the first time, setting a record for the 132-year-old index. (New York Times)

The Federal Reserve has proposed new guidance setting forth its core principles of effective risk management by banks with over $50 billion in assets, including expectations for senior management, business line management and independent risk management and controls. The proposal follows the Fed’s proposal last summer to create a new supervisory risk rating scale for large bank holding companies with over $50 billion in assets. (ABA Banking Journal)

In response to ABA’s letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on the unexpected consequences that tax reform will have on regulatory capital, FASB has agreed to address the issue during its upcoming meeting on Jan. 10. (ABA Banking Journal)

The Justice Department has revoked prior guidance on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where the drug has been legalized, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in a memo to federal prosecutors. Related guidance on handling marijuana-related transactions remains in force for the time being. (ABA Banking Journal)

In a major win for the industry, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in late December that it will not assess penalties with respect to errors in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collected in 2018 and reported in 2019, and will not require banks to resubmit data for that period unless errors are found to be material. Banks must begin submitting HMDA data collected in 2017 and beyond using the CFPB’s new online platform on Jan. 1. (ABA Banking Journal)