ING Group NV's U.S. retirement division is attempting to pursue small and midsize defined contribution business through the banking channel and with a convenience payroll strategy.

The Financial Planning Coalition, a group that includes several organizations representing thousands of financial advisors, last week released a copy of a petition it sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking the regulatory agency to extend the definition of fiduciary standard to include "anyone providing personalized investment advice to retail clients."

The money stream is flowing again. After two years of stagnant or shrinking revenue, the 50 largest independent broker-dealers reported that annual revenues rebounded last year.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will remove some barriers to government-insured condominium lending next month, including a post-crisis measure housing industry groups have long complained about.

With the agency mulling changes to the “Qualified Mortgage” regulation, mortgage lenders say little-known standards for how they document a borrower’s income would be a good place to start.

Banks currently can help their CRA performance with mortgages to anyone in a distressed neighborhood, but Joseph Otting said officials crafting a reform plan are considering limiting that to lower-income borrowers.

Banks, flush with money to lend, will keep upward pressure on inflation in 2023 and perhaps several more years as they lend out their bloated reserve balances.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency head has said: "The status quo is not acceptable." She could not be more correct.

The only way for Fincen to assure that banks have the tools to identify illicit shell companies is for the agency to verify the information in its new beneficial ownership database.