Katherine Kane

How would the largest financial institutions fare during various future economic conditions? The Federal Reserve Board has released three scenarios the 19 big banks should use in preparing for their annual stress tests required by Dodd-Frank.

Would the orderly liquidation authority in Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act work as intended in a megabank failure? The Clearing House Association staged a simulation to war-game that question and found it did.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is looking at three possible reforms to the money market mutual fund industry, building on recommendations from SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro.

Dodd-Frank requires the CFPB to encourage financial innovation. The agency's Project Catalyst will colloborate with three alternative companies to gain a better understanding of how to support start-up financial players.

The election is over. Dodd-Frank is here to stay. It's time for bankers and regulators to get on with compliance and implementation, writes Editor-at-Large Barbara Rehm. She'd like to see an appointment for the director of the Office of Financial Research, stronger bank boards and leeway for examiners to go with their guts.

The news that the CFPB's Deputy Director Raj Date will be leaving the agency has provoked anxiety in banking circles. Despite objections to the new agency, many have appreciated his expertise and deep understanding of the industry.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Elizabeth Duke doesn't want to see new mortgage rules driving community banks out of the origination market. Exhibit A: balloon mortgages. They may have been abused by other lenders, but are a mainstay of community bank mortgage lending.

A section of Dodd-Frank tells regulators not to rely on the credit agencies, so an OCC rule that goes into effect in January says banks can't use thos ratings to prove the value of their investments. The bank have to use some other source or do their own analysis. That could get costly.

Smaller banks, fearing the regulatory burden from the legislation will crush them and no longer holding the hope that Romney could lighten the load, are now weighing their future. For many that might mean consolidation.

Now that the uncertainty of the elections is out of the way, we may see certain Dodd-Frank rules finalized by regulators soon. And opponents of the law see one upside: if Democrats are less on guard defending the law, they could be more pragmatic about adjustments.

The Obama victory moves the financial industry to Plan B, according Dealbook. Wall Street may need to set a new tone in efforts to minimize the impact of Dodd-Frank. Most of the focus from the large banks may center around implementation of the Volcker Rule on proprietary trading.

Will Elizabeth Warren get a seat on the Senate Banking Committee? Will she thwart efforts to modify the Dodd-Frank Act? Republicans and the financial industry executives are anxious to know.

What do the next four years of an Obama administration hold for the Dodd-Frank Act? There may be less talk of repeal and rollbacks, but some Democrats in Congress are pushing the agencies implementing the law to heed industry suggestions.

If the House goes to the Republicans, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas will most likely be the next head of the Financial Services Commmittee. A Dodd-Frank revamp and GSE reform will be his twin causes, predict observers.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray is expected to stick out his recess appointment term through 2013 regardless of who wins the presidency. After that various different scenarios could play out.

In all the regulatory discussion of small banks vs. megabanks, what about midsized banks? Some of those banks that are over the $50 billlion asset threshold, but far from being a Wall Street behemoth, are hiring their own lobbyists.

As the effective date for compliance with the CFPB's final remittance rule approaches, bankers are saying meeting all the requirements will not feasible. "It's one of those 'you can't get there from here’ regulations," says an industry lawyer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put out its first issue of "Supervisory Highlights," which provides an overview of issues that have emerged in examinations by the agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Housing Finance Agency announced plans to create a new mortgage database, more comprehensive and streamlined than existing state and federal ones, to guide policy decisions.

The orderly liquidation authority of the Dodd-Frank Act requires a "minimum recovery" for creditors of troubled systemically important financial institutions, i.e. no less then what they would have received in normal bankruptcy proceedings. Rules to implement that standard could reassure the markets, say industry observers.