Law and regulation

The Fed unveiled on Thursday a new publication and website aimed at community bankers, including a question and answer session with Chairman Ben Bernanke on the challenges facing smaller institutions.

The Treasury Department will auction its stakes in five more banks — including shares it owns in an Illinois bank that it previously failed to sell — as it continues to wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the procedures for examining credit bureaus and consumer reporting companies, another step toward implementing its nonbank supervision program.

Dozens of institutions have banded together to voice concerns they say are being overlooked by lawmakers and regulators.

The anonymous blackmailers may be trying to manipulate the market price of bitcoins, even if their claim to possesses Mitt Romney's tax returns is hoax.

MasterCard became the first payments network to issue a license to a Myanmar bank as the Southeast Asian nation moves toward integrating with the global financial system after decades of military rule.

The capital markets are where growth is occurring today and if banks want to be profitable in the future they won't be able to do it solely or even principally by making loans.

A former manager of Borinquen Federal Credit Union in Philadelphia has admitted to embezzling $2.3 million from the institution, a theft that led to its closure last year.

As Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats mounted their defense of Dodd-Frank on Wednesday, they sought to counter Republican charges that President Obama doesn't understand the private sector by pointing to the steps he has taken to help small business.

Mitt Romney says that reforming Fannie and Freddie will be a priority if he wins the White House in November, but he declined to offer any further details.

A group led by City National CEO Russell Goldsmith is looking to push an agenda for banks with $7 billion to $30 billion in assets.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. next week will unveil the latest national estimates of who is unbanked in this country.

The American Bankers Association's board is expected to approve a plan Thursday to get into the SuperPAC game.

Debit card issuers used to promote signature transactions over PIN. But now, in a post-Durbin world, the interchange revenues from both are similar, so “issuers are now trying to guide shoppers to use personal identification numbers” because of the lower costs, explains American Banker’s Victoria Finkle.

Financial institutions that do the same things should have the same oversight. Unfortunately, we're a long way from regulatory parity, even after Dodd-Frank.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency promoted Ellen M. Warwick to oversee its law department division, the agency said Wednesday.

For community banks, the Dodd-Frank reform law presents a lot more questions than answers. For Washington State's Cashmere Bank, it was time to turn to outside help.

While neither Obama nor Romney favors a megabank breakup, delegates at both the GOP and Democratic conventions indicated broad bipartisan support.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has terminated a consent order with Cornerstone Community Bank in Chattanooga, Tenn., after the bank increased its capital levels.

Street protests, fortress-like security, and the carefully chosen words of politicians underscore the strained relationship between the Democratic party and the banking industry.