Law and regulation

Congress has punched traditional bankers in the nose, and if we do nothing in the next 50 days, they will continue this abuse with impunity.

Regulators may be about to crack down on some of the nation's biggest banks for failing to monitor possible unlawful cash transactions.

The Missouri Division of Finance closed the $282.3 million-asset Truman Bank in St. Louis on Friday. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. entered into an agreement with Simmons First National Bank in Pine Bluff, Ark., to buy the bank's assets and assume its $245.7 million in deposits.

A copy of prepared remarks delivered by Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Mary Miller at the American Banker Regulatory Symposium.

The FDIC is trying to help bankers prep for exams and more clearly understand the results as part of a broader effort at improving relations, Martin Gruenberg, the agency's acting Chairman, said.

When will all the details of the much-debated Volcker Rule, which bans proprietary trading by banks, be set? FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg is aiming for yearend. "That's the intention — to try to get it done," he said.

For banks to tap into the full potential of advanced analytics, they should address some difficult challenges, including vast quantities of poorly organized data, inadequately skilled staff and risk management operations still stuck in silos.

The Basel III capital proposals would severely restrict already weak lending at community banks and has to be changed, panelists said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. But international politics and legal requirements will make them hard to change, they acknowledged.

Mary Miller, the U.S. Treasury under secretary for domestic finance, praised the Dodd-Frank Act in a speech at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium Friday.

Regulators should re-examine how they classify deposits, or more banks could be classified as troubled. That was the view of a panel on the Transaction Account Guarantee program at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

By prodding Freddie Mac to pursue more loan putbacks, the FHFA's inspector general has proven itself willing and able to force confrontation between the GSEs and their customers.

Prosecutors overreached in suing Luther Burbank Savings, which has agreed to settle charges its single-family mortgages were discriminatory, the bank's lawyer said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. He's wrong, a Justice official replied.

Following is the transript of a speech Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board member Thomas Hoenig was slated to give at the American Banker Regulatory Symposium in Washington.

In a speech at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium, the FDIC board member said that the rules are too complex and won't help stave off the next crisis.

The bailouts were justified as a way to unfreeze credit and help homeowners, and the government failed on both counts.

Slavie Federal Savings Bank in Bel Air, Md., is taking steps to shore up its regulatory capital.

Mortgage lenders get clarity from Fannie and Freddie; Capital One CEO fears competition from mobile players; former IndyMac CEO fights the SEC.

A bill in the Senate, which would require 13 more steps for new financial regulations, including a cost-benefit analysis, is drawing attention. The committe vote on it has been delayed until after the election, but there's a chance it could still move quickly.

The FTC told a House subcommittee that Fair Credit Reporting Act enforcement remains a priority and it is committed to teaching about consumer reports, credit scores and their rights.

The billing methods used by Fairview Health Services' former collection agency Accretive Health violated federal patient-protection laws, regulators say.