Law and regulation

Committees serving an independent organization seeking to help the U.S. payments industry prepare for its conversion to EMV smartcard and contactless technology have begun examining key aspects of the transition.

Former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair wants to ban the revolving door and, moreover, believes bank examiners should be required to make a lifelong commitment to the profession. Not everyone agrees with this prescription.

While Comptroller Tom Curry made it clear that regulators will not back down from a push for higher capital levels, he suggested the agencies are considering other ways to reduce the burden of the Basel III proposal for community banks.

Thousands of individuals who paid 20 percent fees to collection agency Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson could be affected by a ruling last week to certify a class-action suit against the firm.

The complexity of Basel III is irrelevant to 90% of U.S. banks and should not be imposed on them. If rejecting the rules altogether is not considered politically feasible, a sensible alternative would be to simply exempt all community banks from its requirements.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has attempted to reassure lenders that their attorney-client privilege will be protected in any information turned over to the agency. But lender and their lawyers are not convinced.

The U.S. migration to the EMV secure chip-card standard has been so slow that some have compared it to the country's adoption of the metric system. But after years of delays, the mobile-wallet craze changed the rules.

A dry-as-dirt technical dispute over unique codes used to identify market participants has roiled a global effort to standardize financial data.

After being the first bank penalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Capital One will be facing a challenge to make sure the integration its recent acquisitions, HSCB's credit card portfolio and ING Direct, doesn't trip the CFPB's concerns.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a prompt corrective action against Sunrise Bank in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

More than 700 community banks failed a stress test performed by the New York data company Trepp, based on the proposed Basel III guidelines. Even if they wanted to do something about this problem, many would have a hard time raising capital in the private markets now.

No, it's not that ABA, but another one — the American Booksellers Association — has joined a growing list of retail groups seeking to derail the settlement with the card networks.

Jennifer Shasky Calvery took the reins at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network last month, after 15 years at the Justice Department prosecuting money laundering and organized crime.

Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo calls for capping the size of banks, lawsuit proliferate, earnings roll in.

Liability insurance companies generally argue allowing banks to receive insurance coverage for overdraft litigation settlements violates public policy and rewards supposed wrongdoing, but there typically is no explicit exclusion in a policy that justifies this and other go-to positions.

"It was more like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" says former FDIC chair Shelia Bair in response to Mitt Romney's assertion during the first presidential debate that the "systemically important" designation under Dodd-Frank was a the "biggest kiss" to Wall Street.

Capital One knows how to swallow consumer bank operations. But its two recent acquisitions come with a much higher risk of regulatory indigestion.

A suggestion by Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo that policymakers should cap the size of the largest banks may have a chilling effect on future mergers and acquisitions.

The New York Democrat denies allegations by challenger Christopher Wight that she's abandoned her campaign and is taking votes for granted.

Former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair, who vocally criticized the Citigroup bailouts in her new book, said Friday that she sees few growth prospects for the bank.