Law and regulation

Behind the scenes, the system is getting safer as the largest banks re-focus on their strengths and dump businesses that don't fit the future they see for themselves. These narrower, but not necessarily smaller, banks should be easier to oversee, editor-at-large Barbara A. Rehm says.

WASHINGTON — Industry groups asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wednesday to convene a panel to review the potential effects of new mortgage lending standards on small businesses.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stood up to Democratic senators during a hearing on trading losses and managed to use the forum to argue against the Volcker Rule and other regulations.

Fannie Mae went in-house to recruit three of its last four CEOs, a strategy likely calculated to rebuild internal morale. Freddie Mac hired three of its last four chiefs from outside, signaling continued housecleaning.

Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase easily won a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday probing the more than $2 billion loss at his firm, signaling that his star status on Capitol Hill remains relatively unchanged despite ongoing questions about the unusual trades.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will use the data to make recommendations to Congress, which could include changes to the private student loan market.

The former chief executive of a failed Florida community bank has been sentenced to six years in prison for lying to regulators about the bank's condition.

A federal court panel said Bank of America Corp. (BAC) can't consolidate multiple lawsuits involving losses suffered from the collapse of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. and Colonial Bank in a multibillion-dollar fraud.

BuckleySandler LLP has hired both a top federal prosecutor and a former regulator to beef up its securities fraud expertise.

In congressional testimony, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive seeks to strike a balance between contrition and assurances that the situation is under control.

We offer a primer on what topics are liable to be covered, who is likely to hit Jamie Dimon the hardest and what to look out for when the JPMorgan Chase CEO testifies Wednesday at the Senate Banking Committee hearing.

The Atlanta retailer, one of the banking industry's fiercest opponents in the battles over interchange regulations, says its customers have benefited from lower prices after regulators capped debit card swipe fees.

It's too easy to blame the agency. With a job as complex as the FAA's, but less than a tenth of the staff, the OCC for practical and philosophical reasons relies on banks to manage and monitor risk.

The FDIC voted to release proposed rules implementing Basel III for comment, but officials suggested the capital accord may not go far enough.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo stepped forward with several key reforms that could be taken to reduce risk in the shadow banking system.

WASHINGTON — ING Bank has agreed to pay $619 million to settle charges that it violated U.S. sanctions — the largest such settlement in history, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.

Not only is JPMorgan Chase a top campaign contributor to Senate Banking Committee senior leadership, the company's lobbying team also includes several ex-staffers with ties to lawmakers.

Bankers fear enforcement action amid allegations that dealer rates vary by race.

The Basel III capital requirements must be applied consistently across borders. It'll do a lot more to deter reckless risk-taking than micromanaging banks through measures like the Volcker Rule.

A group of U.S. bankers has told top Federal Reserve officials that regulators' focus on restraining bankers' pay is creating "unnecessary tension."