A recent Fitch Ratings report finds that most U.S. airports are reaching pre-pandemic passenger trends despite COVID-19 variants earlier this year. Since its last report, Fitch has revised its rating outlook for nearly all domestic airports from negative to stable. Increased debt issuances are also signaling a return to normality with many airports already coming to market in 2022.

On May 17, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a Wall Street Journal interview stated he is committed to taking interest rates as high as necessary to get inflation headed in the direction of the central bank's 2% target. This comes after earlier this month, the Fed raised benchmark borrowing rates by half a percentage point, the second increase of 2022 as inflation reached around a 40-year high. Fed officials continue to stress that the rise in inflation is only temporary.

On May 17, the EU Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee announced a series of proposals establishing new rigorous rules for the EU Commission’s regulation of the green bond market. The proposal aims to improve transparency and monitoring of the green bond market in an effort to reduce greenwashing.

On May 18, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services. The hearing concentrated on budget and funding following the SEC’s request for a substantial budget increase for fiscal year 2023.

On May 13, SFA alongside six other trade associations submitted a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency urging to incorporate a fulsome transition plan for any potential changes in how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac utilize credit scores as they implement Congress’ mandate to establish a process where other credit models can be approved and used in the GSEs mortgage purchase decisions.

In its semi-annual report, published May 5, the Federal Reserve took a cautionary tone in describing the dramatic changes since its last report in November 2021, citing human and economic hardship due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the spread of the COVID Omicron variant and inflation that has been higher and longer than anticipated as elements of the vulnerabilities of the U.S. financial system.

On Tuesday May 10 and Thursday, May 12, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified before the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee respectively, as part of the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s annual report to Congress. The scope of the hearings were broad, covering climate risk, cybersecurity, energy, LIBOR, Russian sanctions, and other topics that fall under FSOC’s broad purview.

After a long and contentious confirmation process, which began in June 2021, the Senate confirmed Julia Gordon as Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on May 11.

On May 12, the Senate confirmed Jay Powell to his second term as Chair of the Federal Reserve by a vote of 80-19. Earlier in the week, economist and Michigan State University professor Lisa Cook was confirmed to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors after a vote of 51-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, and Philip Jefferson was confirmed on a 91-7 vote.

The Structured Finance Foundation, an affiliate of the Structured Finance Association (SFA), on Friday, May 13, 2022 honored recipients of a scholarship it established at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) for students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in finance, accounting, or economics in the School of Business and Public Administration. The scholarship was established in 2020 with a gift of $80,000. Manda Burnham and Hansi Lara Cruz were both awarded a $10,000 scholarship at a ceremony on campus.