A longtime California bank regulator and executive has joined the board at Hanmi Financial in Los Angeles.

Throw Cathy Bessant of Bank of America a question about a hot tech topic, and she's got answers. Blockchain? She loves it but is still waiting for its use case. Patents? The law is making us be aggressive. Swift? A call to action. And that's just the start.

The financial crisis, and its aftermath, created a new layer of regulation to consider. A growing need to fund technology projects and an uncertain rate environment have only made it harder to forecast revenue and expenses.

Debt collectors are facing increasing pressure from the CFPB through aggressive regulation by enforcement. In the past few years, the CFPB has entered into consent orders with debt buyers, banks and other lenders. The orders limit debt sales, increase data requirements and forbid various collection practices.

Aneel Delawalla, managing director at Accenture, offers advice on how bank CFOs can carve out more time for strategic planning, as demands from regulators and investors increase.

The FTC's annual report on enforcement actions involving the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act highlights seven new or ongoing cases involving EFTA issues in 2015.

Illinois owes $3 million to the FBI for processing fingerprints and conducting background checks for professional licenses and permits. The debt is old enough that it could be turned over to the federal government's collection agency - the Treasury Department.

Without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau setting specific debt collection guidelines — including what technology agencies can use — the industry will continue a practice that harms consumers: lawsuits.

Most banks will be content to let the rate chasers walk if CD rates rise, but they'll still need to hike payouts if they hope to keep pace with the competitors. Question is, how far will they go to retain their best customers?

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote to Visa on Tuesday to denounce an alleged new fee assessed by the company on credit and debit card issuers that see their business shift to a competing card network.

LendingClub abruptly adjourned its annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, saying it wasn't ready to address investors after a leadership shakeup last month. It also overhauled criteria for the consumer loans it arranges online.

Bank of America will move its mortgage servicing back onto Black Knight Financial Services' LoanSphere MSP servicing system of record.

LendingClub, under pressure to bolster investor confidence in the loans it arranges online, is boosting interest rates and tightening criteria for borrowers to qualify.

Hot demand for shares of Enterprise Bancorp in Lowell, Mass., has prompted the bank to double the size of its secondary offering.

A push for having an independent chairman gained traction immediately after the financial crisis. Years later, the effort seems to be losing momentum.

We need a variety of small-dollar credit products to meet a variety of consumer needs. So the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed payday plan must provide more flexibility.

Global trade protectionism in other countries increasingly poses an obstacle to keep the market for payments networks competitive.

U.S. card issuers lose $10.9 billion each year to card fraud, according to research released Tuesday by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

The Better Business Bureau of Central New England is reporting complaints from consumers about fake debt collection calls that include threats of arrest and wage garnishment if bills are not paid.

The CFPB filed a lawsuit Monday against the payment processer Intercept Corp. and its two top executives for allegedly enabling clients to withdraw millions of dollars' worth of illegal charges from consumer bank accounts.