Cheyenne Hopkins

Proposed solutions run the gamut from higher capital and liquidity requirements for large and complex banking companies to higher taxes and curbs on growth and risk-taking.

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday said he wants to expand Small Business Administration guarantees to commercial real estate loans.

The Treasury Department announced a program Wednesday to extend capital on more favorable terms to community development financial institutions to lend to small businesses in the hardest-hit communities.

Lawmakers sharply criticized the Obama administration's proposed bank tax on Tuesday, telling Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner it is unfair and counterproductive.

The Obama administration's massive 2011 budget proposal was notable for what it did not cover, including an outline for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or a better sense of its priorities on regulatory reform legislation.

The Obama administration's 2011 budget proposal would rework how Federal Housing Administration premiums are charged, calling for increasing the annual premium on such loans to as much as 90 basis points, but allowing the agency to drop its up-front premiums to 1%.

Citi lobbyist going bald for a good cause; Sen. John McCain favors Obama's Glass-Steagall-like proposal; the OCC trying to increase its online presence with Facebook; and more.

Details for a planned $30 billion program to help community banks lend to small businesses are still being worked on, but the Obama administration is leaning toward removing the strings that have scared institutions away from other capital programs.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used a hearing on the bailout of AIG to repeatedly endorse President Obama's plan to impose a 15 basis-point tax on large banks and restrict their growth and activities.

The White House proposal does not go as far as the 1933 law that separated commercial and investment banking — it would still allow banks to underwrite securities, among other things — but observers said it is strongly headed in that direction.

WASHINGTON — Regulators seized five banks in as many states Friday, bringing the 2010 failure total to nine.

WASHINGTON — Regulators seized five banks in as many states Friday, bringing the 2010 failure total to nine.

In the past two weeks alone, President Obama has proposed two major initiatives — one to tax the largest banks and another to curb both their growth and their risk taking.

On Thursday, President Obama said banks are too big and too concentrated, and he asked Congress to bar banking companies from proprietary trading and from working with hedge funds or private-equity firms. The president also proposed curbing growth by imposing a hard cap on any one banking company's share of the market for nondeposit liabilities.

President Obama on Thursday proposed two new ways to restrict the size and activities of large commercial banks.

Tighter underwriting guidelines unveiled Wednesday by the Federal Housing Administration will make it harder for lenders to qualify borrowers in a year when origination volumes are already expected to tank.

Like any public policy, the proposed bank tax will likely yield some unexpected outcomes — affecting the entire industry, not just those targeted.

The American Securitization Forum and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association have ended their six-year relationship.

President Obama this morning will propose Congress impose a “financial crisis responsibility fee” on large financial institutions that received government assistance, either capital from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or debt guaranteed by Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

WASHINGTON — Fairness is hard to measure, but that was a key issue being asked Wednesday about the Obama administration's plan to recoup losses on the government's rescue efforts by charging large financial institutions a fee.