Law and regulation

The effects of a loose monetary policy were compounded by housing policy – not just the "affordable" housing goals set for Fannie and Freddie but also CRA quotas imposed on banks.

When bankers heard that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had selected Paul Ryan as his running mate, most likely cheered the news. The Wisconsin congressman is, after all, the Capitol Hill antithesis of Barney Frank. He's the Republicans' standard-bearer for limited government in all its forms and has gone into greater depth than anyone else in his party in laying out a plan for limiting it.

When credit card issuers find their portfolios aren't living up to expectation or within the strategy they set for them, they often put them up for sale. Could debit card issuers do the same?

The SEC announced that it has made its first award in a whistleblower program under Dodd-Frank, a Wall Street Journal blog post reports.

Although Republicans appear open to a bill that would make it easier for borrowers to refinance their mortgages, Democrats are balking at requests that the legislation also include measures to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other things.

Central bank policy rates, overnight unsecured borrowing rates, commercial paper rates, Treasury bills and repo rates all would be open to potential manipulation, just like Libor.

Bank of America has ceased selling all payment protection plans to credit card customers, killing off a business line targeted by regulators.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. next Tuesday will release its latest quarterly update on earnings, loan growth and other indicators for the entire banking industry.

If the Shazam electronic funds transfer network had its way, smart cards issued with EMV chips would require a single PIN that would both open the chip and route the transaction for settlement. But "that's still under discussion," an exec says.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency took another step to alleviate burden on borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments.

Regulatory agencies have jointly proposed new standards, required by Dodd-Frank, for mortgage appraisals. But many of the standards “have largely already been adopted by the industry, observers said, due to the fallout from the housing crisis,” write American Banker’s Joe Adler and Kate Berry.

Yes, megabanks provide useful, all-in-one services. But their biggest customers challenge the argument that they need financial behemoths to operate globally.

Yes, megabanks provide useful, all-in-one services. But their biggest customers challenge the argument that financial behemoths should be held together for their sake.

Big businesses' mixed feelings about their large bank partners are especially obvious when the conversation turns to proposed reforms of money-market funds, which corporate treasurers say could increase the power of "too big to fail" banks.

A federal charter for National Consumer Credit Corporations could help community bankers serve (and profit off) low-to-moderate-income consumers.

The banking industry, reeling from public outrage and increased regulation, is proving incapable of finding a champion to replace sidelined JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Citigroup became the first Western bank to issue credit cards in China without co-branding from a local financial institution as the government relaxes restrictions in the world's second-largest economy.

The group's lack of transparency is symptomatic of a self- regulated system that failed to stop traders around the world manipulating the world's most widely usThe Libor Committee's lack of transparency is symptomatic of a self- regulated system that failed to stop traders around the world manipulating the world's most widely used benchmark interest rate for profit.ed benchmark interest rate for profit.

The BdB German Banking Association, which represents Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, wants the European Central Bank to have sole responsibility for regulatory supervision of all euro-region banks.

David Cohen, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the new director, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, is "a perfect fit."