Law and regulation

Unreasonably high taxes generate less, not more revenue for governments. Likewise, banks might make more money with lower fees, and become more compliant and less hated.

The FDIC is backing away from covering losses, Countrywide's VIP program benefits members of Congress, an 'abusive' practice is defined, nine of the largest banks detail how to take them apart if they fail, and the OCC releases a report detailing every risk facing banks. Here are the Top 5 Washington stories last week.

The House Oversight Committee last week released a 136-page report that seems likely to be the final word on the Countrywide VIP mortgage scandal. Here is a summary of what the report says about seven current and former members of Congress, along with their responses.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled Tuesday to consider whether banks with under $10 billion in assets will be exempt from Dodd-Frank requirements to conduct swap trades through clearinghouses.

The National Credit Union Administration announced Saturday morning the completion of its liquidation of WesCorp FCU, marking the end of the most costly failure in credit union history.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey on Friday. Ameris Bank in Moultrie, Ga., agreed to assume all of the bank's $164.4 million in deposits.

A new congressional report provides a comprehensive look into how Countrywide used its VIP program to win friends in Washington.

We know all about the "Friends of Angelo," those political insiders who got sweetheart mortgages from Countrywide. But what about the poor schlubs who aren't worth former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo's affection? Well, they finally have a leader.

The acting chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it is "difficult at this time to anticipate the consequences" of the possible expiration of the Transaction Account Guarantee program at the end of the year because of the uncertain economic climate.

Georgia regulators have ordered an Atlanta-area business to stop calling itself a credit union.

Sen. Jon Tester, who led the charge on Capitol Hill to delay interchange fee reform, is receiving a reelection assist from Pearl Jam, the grunge band fronted by Eddie Vedder.

The House Financial Services Committee is holding two Dodd-Frank related hearings next week as part of Republican members’ agenda to eventually repeal the legislation, according to The Hill’s Floor Action Blog. Sounds kind of a like a not-so-happy birthday celebration for the act, which was passed in July 2010.

Consumers may not be pushing for stronger card security because they feel overly protected by the systems in use today. But they do face real costs for fraud.

PricewaterhouseCoopers failed to warn shareholders and the public about increased risk at Barclays. The auditor gave the British bank a clean report card on internal controls over financial reporting. We now know those controls were seriously deficient.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced three senior staff appointments this week, including a new examination chief and a top liaison to Congress.

Three California local governments may use their eminent domain powers to seize mortgages and restructure them to help distressed borrowers stay in their homes — much to the dismay of investors who hold the mortgages.

A recent survey by Ernst & Young shows more progress by banks to address deficiencies in their risk management practices, but growing concern for Basel III and new liquidity rules.

Even if we could trust megabanks to behave, there may be too much at stake to let systemically risky institutions live by self-imposed principles rather than hard and fast rules.

Nine of the largest, most complex financial institutions recently submitted living wills, plans required by Dodd-Frank detailing how they could unwind themselves facing a failure, to regulators.

The biggest U.S. mortgage lenders, whose first-quarter earnings were buoyed by gains on home loan refinancings, are raking in more profits as record-low interest rates and government efforts prolong the boom.