The Daily Fuckup

On May 19, 2026, the White House signed two executive orders that push financial policy in different directions, even if they arrived on the same day. One order focuses on illicit finance, identity abuse, employer payroll-tax evasion, and lending risks the administration says can arise when borrowers are not work-authorized. The other tells regulators to examine whether the current framework for fintech and nonbank firms is too restrictive, including at the level of Reserve Bank payment access.

The first order, titled "Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System," directs Treasury to issue an advisory on the risks the administration says come from the exploitation of the U.S. financial system by non-work-authorized people and their employers. It cites payroll-tax evasion, nominee accounts, shell companies, off-the-books wage payments, structuring, labor trafficking, and the use of individual taxpayer identification numbers to open accounts or obtain credit without verified lawful status. It also calls for work on Bank Secrecy Act regulations aimed at strengthening customer due diligence and customer identification controls.

That order also asks the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider whether deportation risk and lost wages can affect repayment ability under ability-to-repay standards, and it directs federal financial regulators to issue guidance on how to manage credit risks tied to non-work-authorized borrowers. The order does not outlaw lending outright. It instead tells regulators to treat immigration status and work authorization as potentially relevant risk factors where they matter to underwriting or compliance.

The second order, "Integrating Financial Technology Innovation into Regulatory Frameworks," takes a lighter touch. It directs federal financial regulators to review existing rules, guidance, supervision, and application processes to identify barriers that may slow competition or innovation. It also asks the Federal Reserve to evaluate the legal and policy framework for access to Reserve Bank payment accounts and payment services for uninsured depository institutions and nonbank financial companies, including firms involved in digital assets and other novel activities.

Crucially, that fintech order does not itself expand Fed payment access. It asks for a review of whether broader access is legally available and, if the law allows it, for transparent application procedures and decisions on complete applications within 90 days. In other words, the order opens a regulatory door for review; it does not open the door itself.

Put together, the two actions show a split approach to banking policy: tighter screening around identity, employment authorization, and suspected illicit finance on one side, and a possible streamlining of access rules for some newer financial firms on the other. The administration is not writing one unified banking doctrine here. It is steering two separate policy tracks at once.