Joe Adler

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. told banks under its watch to prioritize "prudent interest rate risk oversight."

Bankers warn that a default on certain Treasuries could put market collateral at risk, harm overnight lending, drain key sources of liquidity from the market and shatter consumer confidence.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — not one of the six agencies defining so-called "Qualified Residential Mortgages" — could still determine the future of the label under a recent proposal.

Internet-based, short-term lenders have various routes for setting up business, but most of their options expose them to potential legal challenges.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sought to ease concerns about its view of banks' affiliations with online lenders, saying institutions correctly managing their third-party relationships "are neither prohibited nor discouraged" from processing payments for legal entities.

Higher interest rates have cut into bank profits in recent months, but that was only the start of the problem for big banks. The volatility is also hurting the value of their available-for-sale debt securities, which could cost them once Basel III takes effect Jan. 1.

Revisions to banks' duties under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act are coming soon, and they are meant to "ease the operational and technological burdens" of banks, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said.

Panelists at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium will discuss a federal proposal addressing how banks should develop risk management policies for their use of social media.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is facing accusations that it is forcing banks to cut ties with online payday lenders, but the agency says it is only urging banks to be on guard about merchant relationships that elevate their risk.

FDIC warns banks to prepare for future interest rate impact on unrealized gains and losses.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shuttered the $3.1 billion-asset First National Bank in Edinburg, Texas, and it was sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a deal estimated to cost $637 million to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. resisted big-bank pressure to overhaul a rule, issued Tuesday, that clarified that U.S. bank deposits held in a foreign branch do not receive FDIC insurance, even if they can be withdrawn in the U.S.

The Federal Home Loan Bank system, which has been hurt by successive quarters of low demand for advances, saw its strongest advances growth in nearly six years in the second quarter as banks began to see depositors exit.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...Time Really Flies: Five-year retrospectives of the 2008 meltdown were popular over the weekend and fed into Monday's papers. Journal economics editor David Wessel wove together a complete summary of the meltdown — from the fallout over the sharp decline in housing values to policymakers' decision-making over which firms to bail out and which to let fail. In the five years of recovery since the near collapse, "Americans could justifiably celebrate victory." But it is only a partial victory. "The fundamental unresolved policy question is this: Were the fiscal and monetary stimulus the wrong medicine, or were they just too small to do the job?"

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors on Tuesday is set to finalize a regulation dealing with the agency's handling of uninsured deposits held in foreign branches.

The risk retention requirement was supposed to ensure lenders had "skin in the game" when making mortgages. Instead, regulators appear to have abandoned that concept by crafting an exception so large that most single-family mortgages will be exempted.

The banking industry enjoyed a second consecutive record quarterly profit in the three months through June, according to the FDIC. But lower unrealized gains on available-for-sale securities sparked concerns about future risks from rising interest rates.

The banking industry earned a record profit for the second straight quarter as growth in noninterest income continued to make up for a slow recovery in the lending sector, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday.

Six federal agencies have re-issued their proposal for defining "qualified residential mortgages" that avoid risk retention, which is more to the industry's liking than a 2011 plan. But a much tougher alternative is still drawing attention.

Federal regulators on Wednesday proposed aligning new securitization requirements with a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau underwriting rule in a move likely to please banks and housing advocates.