Tuesday's hard-fought midterm met most expectations leading into Election Day and produced significant changes for the next Congress. ABA and the banking industry have a history of working effectively with both parties and will continue to do so as we promote policies that help banks’ customers, their communities and the economy grow. This analysis looks at the new legislative environment and how it will affect banking policy. (ABA Banking Journal)

Today, more than 1.3 million men and women serve on active duty in our country’s military—both at home and abroad in more than 170 countries—with an additional 865,000 in reserve. Because of this, members of the military and their families face unique challenges when it comes to their finances. (ABA Banking Journal)

Today's preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for November came in slightly above expectations. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index hit 98.3 and economists polled by Refinitiv expected the preliminary read to come in at 98, slightly below October's of 98.6. (CNBC)

A group of British idealists and profit-seekers are working on a new breed of digital currencies, dubbed crypto 2.0. Like Bitcoin, it would allow direct payments between two parties without middle men or government oversight. Yet, unlike the original cryptocurrency, be stable enough to use in everyday transactions. (Bloomberg)

Checking. It’s an apt name for this all-important product. It’s the one customers are always checking out. Here, four banks of different sizes model the ways the industry is evolving its staple financial product, from identifying market needs, keeping choices simple and attracting new or existing customers into the offering. (ABA Banking Journal)

There have never been more opportunities–or more challenges–in digital marketing, especially for financial services. With a plethora of channels and corresponding metrics, how do marketers decide which ones to prioritize? (Bank Innovation)

Months after the Trump administration ended Operation Choke Point—an Obama-era policy that sought to curtail disfavored businesses by working through regulators to pressure banks into ending customer relationships—a group of 13 Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee wrote to FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams calling on the FDIC ensure that these practices are discontinued. (ABA Banking Journal)

The Federal Reserve today finalized a new supervisory rating scale for large bank holding companies to better harmonize the ratings system with its existing supervisory program. The rating scale applies to large bank holding companies with more than $100 billion in total assets, as well as intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations with more than $50 billion in assets and takes effect Feb. 1, 2019. (ABA Banking Journal)

After regulators in September issued a joint statement clarifying that regulatory guidance does not have the force and effect of law, ABA and the Bank Policy Institute submitted a rare petition to each agency calling on them to institutionalize the statement by codifying it in a formal rulemaking. (ABA Banking Journal)

The Federal Reserve has announced it will hold interest rates steady amid stable inflation and cooling business investment. The central bank voted unanimously this week to keep the baseline federal funds rate at a 2-2.25 percent target range in its second to last meeting of 2018. (The Hill)

With the viability of the London Interbank Offered Rate uncertain beyond the end of 2021, the Small Business Administration is changing the base rate for fixed-rate loans in its popular 7(a) program to the prime rate. (ABA Banking Journal)