Dodd-Frank

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee unveiled legislation Tuesday to rival a plan by the panel's GOP chairman, signaling that the partisan divide over regulatory reform isn't likely to soften ahead of a panel markup later this week.

It's a good idea to raise the asset threshold at which financial institutions are automatically designated as systemically important financial institutions. But Sen. Richard Shelby's proposed legislation for regulatory relief does require one crucial change.

The regulatory relief package coming before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday would force the Federal Housing Finance Agency to withdraw the contentious proposal within 30 days.

No bank has fully disclosed what it spends on the Federal Reserve's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, in part because the figure is hard to isolate. It's a key piece of information missing in the debate over banks' regulatory burden.

Crucial operational steps remain before the government could clean up the collapse of a massive firm without threats to the broader financial system.

Banking and credit union trade groups sent a joint letter Friday urging members of the Senate Banking Committee to move forward on bipartisan regulatory relief legislation ahead of a markup next week.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the financial inequalities exposed by the Baltimore riots and whether the changes to Dodd-Frank proposed in Sen. Richard Shelby's regulatory relief plan go too far.

So far, Washington has generally smiled on tech-driven lenders such as Lending Club and OnDeck. But many in the fast-growing industry are now bracing for closer scrutiny.

WASHINGTON — Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke is pushing back against a bipartisan proposal to rein in the agency's emergency lending powers.

Sen. Richard Shelby's attempt to reform Dodd-Frank could ease key bank regulations that improve the safety and soundness of big banks. That would be an immense disservice to the American taxpayers who might bear the cost of the changes with future bailouts.

The Obama admnistration voiced major concerns Wednesday with a Senate regulatory reform package up for a vote next week in the Banking Committee.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and David Vitter, R-La., have joined forces for a second time this month on legislation to reform the Federal Reserve.

With the release of Sen. Shelby's regulatory reform bill, the debate over the legislation is just beginning to take shape. We sort through the possibilities for how it will unfold.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg, discussing progress in establishing big-bank resolution regimes, said the Federal Reserve is developing a rule "to codify" the swaps protocol involving termination rights.

WASHINGTON — A new mortgage disclosure regime due to take effect on Aug. 1 is unlikely to cause closing delays, according to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray.

The consumer watchdog agency, along with the Federal Communications Commission and state attorneys general, said the mobile carriers would refund $120 million in excessive third-party charges to consumers and pay another $38 million in fines.

Sen. Richard Shelby's bill isn't public yet, but sources indicate it could simplify capital standards for small banks, raise the $50 billion systemic threshold, alter the "qualified mortgage" rule and make some changes to the structure of the Federal Reserve Board.

Investor-owned ratings agencies would send a message to mutual fund shareholders, retirement plan participants and other investors that steps have been taken to avoid repeating the inaccurate ratings that contributed so heavily to the financial crisis.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby announced Friday he was pushing back a planned vote on regulatory relief until May 21. The move came just after panel Democrats said they would oppose the bill because they had not yet seen it.

Trading of securities backed by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie is down sharply since the beginning of the year. Bankers' concerns about capital and rates are among the reasons, and the problem may ultimately make the underlying market for mortgages less liquid.