Steven Sloan

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said Thursday that he will push for revisions to the Federal Reserve Act that would end the practice of bankers choosing the leadership of regional Fed banks.

Global financial institutions will have to hold much more capital behind trading books — up to three times as much — when a market risk rule adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision takes effect by yearend 2010.

Borrowing against asset-backed commercial paper held by money market mutual funds fell to zero for the first time on Wednesday, making it the latest liquidity program by the Federal Reserve Board to no longer attract borrowers.

In his most expansive remarks on financial services since he took control of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley signaled strong support on Tuesday for forcing struggling large banks to convert debt into equity, and added details for how such a proposal might work.

WASHINGTON — As if the drive to reform the financial regulatory system did not have enough moving parts, Senate Republicans pressed Thursday to include the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the debate.

The mortgage market could lose vital support from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac early next year if the Federal Reserve Board goes forward with plans to stop buying government-sponsored enterprise securities and debt.

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With lawmakers threatening to speed up implementation of recent credit card reforms, Bank of America Corp. announced Tuesday that it would stop repricing its customers.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will have the authority to make rules that could expand the number of credit rating agencies working with the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility under a proposal released by the central bank Monday.

Chris Dodd calls in big guns to help with campaign; Ron Paul finds a new venue at which to castigate the Fed; 7-Eleven delivers huge petition to stop interchange fees ...

The pubic will have more time to comment on a proposal from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that would boost the number of independent directors at the Federal Home Loan Bank System's Office of Finance.

Jeffrey Kindler, the chairman and chief executive of Pfizer Inc., and James Tisch, the chairman and chief executive of Loews Corp., were named to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's board of directors Thursday.

Lending through the Federal Reserve Board's discount window budged up less than 1% during the past week, to $110.3 billion.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank tried to put Republicans on the defensive Thursday over their opposition to a new consumer protection agency, arguing that the politically unpopular Federal Reserve Board would be the greatest beneficiary of this position.

Elizabeth Mays does not stop thinking about risk management when she leaves her office at JPMorgan Chase & Co. each day. Her most recent book, Credit Scoring for Risk Managers, was largely written from a booth at Chuck E. Cheese.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis named Narayana Kocherlakota as its new president and chief executive, effective Oct. 8.

WASHINGTON — Top Federal Reserve policymakers insisted Wednesday that the central bank has the tools it needs to withdraw all the liquidity it has injected into financial markets but said action on that front is not yet necessary.

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A Federal Reserve Board proposal released Tuesday would clamp down on practices in the credit card industry by reining in fees, limiting card use by young borrowers and restricting rate increases.

WASHINGTON — Despite resistance from the Federal Home Loan banks, the new leader of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Ed DeMarco, says the system should continue to move toward greater consistency in its accounting.