Law and regulation

A joint effort by U.S. and international standards-setters to write rules on loss provisioning hits a speed bump just as an SEC report shows the broader aim of a truly global accounting regime is still far-off.

The Federal Reserve Board on July 27 approved a final rule that amends the provisions in its debit-pricing rule that permit debit card issuers subject to the interchange fee standards under the Durbin amendment to Dodd-Fank to receive a fraud-prevention adjustment.

Preston M. "Pete" Geren 3rd, a former secretary of the Army and U.S. lawmaker, recently joined the board of Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas.

A rambling question from Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner bears an uncomfortable resemblance to an old "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were among the largest clients of firms whose products led to a $210 million settlement between Capital One and federal regulators.

Wal-Mart balks at card settlement; analyst praises bad customer service at Wells Fargo; Sandy Weill, empire-builder, calls for dismantling of empires.

Capital One will pay $12 million to thousands of military customers it overcharged for loans and improperly foreclosed upon, as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Beth Mooney believes regional banks have a competitive advantage against their largest competitors given the "onerous" compliance requirements for $1 trillion-asset banks under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Regulators implementing Dodd-Frank met with big banks nearly 1,300 times in the past two years, but held only 242 meetings with reform-oriented organizations, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation.

Sens. Orrin Hatch and Jerry Moran are accusing the Treasury Department of inappropriately using Twitter and Facebook to push the Obama administration's priorities on Capitol Hill.

The Treasury secretary said Thursday that an extension of the crisis-era program, which remains popular with community banks, appears to be unnecessary.

Capital One will pay $12 million to military customers it overcharged for loans, as part of a settlement with the Justice Dept. and the OCC.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has expanded the global reach of its payment cards while also preparing to provide new technology to clients in the Single Euro Payments Area who will soon deal with far more cross-border payments.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. urged bank CEOs to watch out for middlemen seeking upfront fees to connect them with capital because, it says, many are frauds. The alert should have come sooner, some industry officials say.

As the HSBC hearings demonstrate, there's a growing expectation that individuals, not just institutions, will be held accountable. Recent enforcement actions also show a more risk-based, rather than rules-based, approach.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Thursday a stymied plan by U.S. regulators to reform money market mutual funds must be allowed to move forward.

Visa Inc.'s debit card payment volume declined again during the quarter ended June 30 as a result of a new debit network routing rule, but the worst effects of that trend are over, according to Visa CEO Joe Saunders.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) was against Dodd-Frank when he was in the conference committee for the bill and he continues to be critical of the legislation

Bank industry officials acknowledge that the measure is unlikely to become law, but they hope it sends a message to the Obama administration.

Navy Federal's strategy gives everyone else in the industry yet another way to get around the cap. Puzzlingly, some credit unions relentlessly press for legislation.