Cheyenne Hopkins

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill Wednesday to create a $30 billion fund to encourage small-business lending, despite Republican objections that the legislation was another version of the unpopular Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Senate approved an amendment Tuesday to the regulatory reform bill that would give federal regulators more leeway to preempt state laws but still allow state attorneys general some enforcement power over national banks.

Months after it was considered dead on arrival, a push to create a $30 billion small-business lending fund for community banks has found new life.

Ben Bernanke's cupcake day; world savers Sheila Bair, Mary Schapiro and Elizabeth Warren; FDIC and ICBA moves; Jon Stewart on bank profits.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and 13 bipartisan co-sponsors are pushing an amendment that would prevent state attorneys general from enforcing federal law against national banks.

The Congressional Oversight Panel is planning to release a report Thursday that calls the administration's small business lending programs a failure and casts doubt on a proposal to give banks government funds in an attempt to spur more lending.

Several union-backed groups began an attack Tuesday on lobbyists for the big banking companies, releasing a report that details their efforts during the financial crisis and features photos of dozens of them.

Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., released formal language Monday on how they would like to strengthen the so-called Volcker Rule to ban proprietary trading by banks and restrict their investments in hedge funds and private-equity ventures.

The Obama administration released a proposal on Friday to provide additional capital to community banks to make small business loans.

If anything, despite efforts to weaken the provision, it is only likely to get tougher. If anything, despite efforts to weaken the provision, it is only likely to get tougher.

If anything, despite efforts to weaken the provision, it is only likely to get tougher. If anything, despite efforts to weaken the provision, it is only likely to get tougher.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used a hearing Thursday on the causes of the financial crisis to make a final push for regulatory reform, and indirectly criticized one of the bill's most contentious measures.

Bankers may be unable to stop a tax if it does get added to the legislation because Democrats view it as a way to ensure the reform bill saves the government money and Republicans consider it politically risky to oppose.

WASHINGTON — Large banks have repeatedly prevailed in battles to preserve federal preemption in Congress and the courts, but that victory string is likely to be broken by the regulatory reform bill being debated in the Senate this week.

The federal banking agencies completed guidance Friday on correspondent concentration risk, which the regulators defined as an institution's credit exposure to one borrower that is more than 25% of its Tier 1 capital.

The stand-off preventing movement on regulatory reform legislation appears to be over as two key Republicans cleared the way for colleagues to vote on starting debate for the bill.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Shelby said Wednesday that negotiations with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd over regulatory reform legislation had hit a wall. The panel's lead Republican said it was now up to his GOP colleagues whether to allow debate on the bill.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Tuesday cautioned lenders about the fraud risks of reverse mortgages.

A plan to ban proprietary trading — once considered a long shot — is now almost certain to be enacted as part of a regulatory reform bill, thanks in part to a hearing Tuesday where Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives came under withering allegations of betting against the firm's own clients.

WASHINGTON — Republicans, as promised, banded together to block Senate debate on regulatory reform legislation Monday, picking up opposition from one Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.