Jeff Horwitz

Morrison & Foerster announced Wednesday that it was rehiring Leonard Chanin, a former firm attorney who most recently spent a year and a half heading up the 40 attorneys in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rulemaking operation.

The SEC rolled out its first whistle-blower award on Tuesday, a $50,000 payment to an anonymous informant who helped bring down a Ponzi scheme. So far, the government has recovered $150,000.

Bank of America has ceased selling all payment protection plans to credit card customers, killing off a business line targeted by regulators.

Fannie and Freddie's earnings from guaranteeing mortgages were a footnote when they were racking up huge losses. Now that they've stabilized, what fees their conservator sets will determine whether they shrink or can again be profitable.

The country's fastest-growing servicer reports a solid second-quarter profit, strong operational metrics and plans for an even more ambitious expansion.

Britain's Standard Chartered Bank will pay $340 million to settle claims that it laundered hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal foreign transactions for Iran and other parties.

Stabilizing operational costs and the potential for steady profits at Freddie Mac could further lessen the urgency of structural reforms.

Officials in Florida, the largest force-placed insurance market in the U.S., are investigating whether banks get kickbacks from insurance firms when they buy the coverage for homeowners behind on their premiums, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty says.

After initially dragging their feet, the largest mortgage servicers have modified nearly 70% of loans from delinquent borrowers that qualify, thanks largely to government incentives.

The Clearing House made the case for big banks' "social utility," arguing that banking behemoths pay dividends in efficiency, flexibility, and innovation.

Sovereign Bank defeated an overdraft fee lawsuit in Florida federal court on Thursday, making it the only bank to successfully argue its overdraft practices were sanctioned by federal regulators.

Banking analyst Richard Bove says Wells Fargo has been treating him terribly as a retail customer. He suspects that's an excellent business move.

A growing number of banks are opting to dive into the still immature market for data breach insurance as the risks of doing without coverage mount.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Assessing the Visa/MasterCard Settlement: Everyone digested news of the Visa/MasterCard settlement over the weekend, weighing who won and lost in the $7.2 billion pact. That $1.2 billion of the deal is attributed to a 10-basis point cut in fees that will expire after eight months shows how much the card companies managed to protect.

The bank's bottom line was strong and it has closed out the bulk of losing positions in its London investment office. But two months after disclosure of major risk management failures, analysts remained wary.

If the CFTC and self-regulatory organizations couldn't protect MF Global and Peregrine customers' money, how will they fare policing the $300 trillion swaps market?

Discussions could lead to a common policy with Fannie Mae and set the stage for a force-placed industry overhaul.

There are legitimate reasons to want to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Unfortunately, we haven't stopped talking about the specious ones.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners will hold a hearing on possible abuses in August. Yet a key regulator doubts the industry is seriously troubled.

The bank joins the lengthening list of major institutions which have opted to stop fighting the case.