Law and regulation

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner asked the Financial Stability Oversight Council to take up structural reforms to the $2.6 trillion money market mutual fund industry, citing the Securities and Exchange Commission's failure to act.

A bipartisan group of 53 senators is calling on banking regulators to consider the impact that proposed Basel III capital standards will have on community banks.

Banks are growing increasingly worried that the failure to stem impending tax hikes and steep budget cuts could reduce lending demand, savage profits and cripple M&A activity.

The market for discount notes of the Federal Home Loan Banks represents an adequate Libor replacement since, in addition to meeting other criteria, yields on its securities are the result of actual arm's length transactions with some 80 approved debt underwriters worldwide.

The Fed had reached the agreements in 2010 with America's Community Bank in Blue Springs, Mo., and First Capital West Bankshares in Laramie, Wyo.

Bankers “wake up in the middle of the night” worrying about data breaches in the U.S. payment system, a Citigroup executive said this week.

The inspector general for the FHFA found no evidence that Freddie Mac discouraged homeowners from refinancing their mortgages to profit from an exotic form of interest rate hedging.

Servicers reported a significant increase in the number of new loan modification trial plans in the second quarter, due mostly to the $25 billion mortgage settlement, OCC officials say.

Goldman Sachs (GS) will pay $12 million to settle charges it made undisclosed contributions to a former Massachusetts state treasurer in violation of "pay-to-play" rules.

By proposing to design regulations intended to shape state laws and practices, the FHFA is picking a fight with the states that will overshadow any economic benefit from risk-based pricing.

The law radically expands the power of the Fed and banking regulators. It gives the institutions that created the crisis more ability to cause bigger problems in the future, writes former chairman and CEO of BB&T John Allison.

Even those who don't agree with all five policy initiatives outlined in Andrew Haldane's paper should embrace the underlying theme: It is never too late to rethink basic problems and policy prescriptions, and achieve better economic outcomes.

Mortgage performance at national banks improved slightly in the second quarter, and seriously delinquent loans were at their lowest level in three years, the OCC said Thursday.

The law radically expands the power of the Fed and banking regulators. It gives the institutions that created the crisis more ability to cause bigger problems in the future.

In her new book former FDIC Chairman Shelia Bair argues that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is to blame for the impression that the Dodd-Frank Act codifies too-big-to-fail policies.

While criticizing big bank bailouts, the former FDIC chairman highlights instances where small firms — including United Commercial Bank and ShoreBank — were closed even with alternatives available.

Two of the state attorneys general in the suit against Dodd-Frank are looking out for investor and creditor rights. The law's orderly liquidation authority "violates the Constitution's separation of powers, the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process, and the guarantee of 'uniform' bankruptcy laws," they write.

Interchange has become an ever-more important foundation for credit card lenders as loan portfolios tread water. This interactive graphic shows revenue yields and transaction volume data for large issuers.

WASHINGTON — Zions Bancorp., the largest bank remaining in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, repaid the last of its government funds to exit the program Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced.

Joe Smith, the monitor of the $25 billion mortgage settlement, talks about whether the five largest servicers will be ready when they report on their progress next week.