Law and regulation

Unlike Treasury's much-derided Tarp program, the FDIC's crisis-era guarantee of unsecured debt had a stabilizing effect and could serve as a model for future crises.

The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac says it needs more time to draw a final conclusion on whether to pursue principal reductions.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke went on the defensive this week, rejecting criticisms from Paul Krugman that he had been "assimilated by the Fed Borg" and his views were inconsistent with his previous work as an academic.

Jesse Villarreal Jr., one of the top officials who served at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. during Sheila Bair's term as chairman, has joined Banco Santander as the head of its U.S. government relations team.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has hired Denise Dunckel as a senior associate director for the office of congressional affairs and communications.

Growing up in Anaheim, Calif., Raj Date's early working days were decidedly more glamorous. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's No. 2 revealed last week that he got his first paying job at Disneyland.

Re "Carving Up Big Banks Won't Work, Any Way You Slice It":

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has extended the comment period until June 29 for its public inquiry into overdraft practices.

The FDIC's crisis-era guarantee of unsecured debt had a stabilizing effect, and unlike Treasury's capital infusions in banks the so-called TLGP skirted a lot of the bad publicity associated with the bailout. With its end approaching, some see the debt guarantee as a model for future crises.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a written agreement with North Valley Bancorp (NOVB) in response to the Redding, Calif., company's improved financial condition.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said Thursday that while the administration still supports the bank tax, it's now talking with members of Congress about other potential ways to pay for the president's broad mortgage refinancing proposal.

When I see my name in print included alongside names like Sheila Bair, Tom Hoenig, Richard Fisher, and Simon Johnson, I take notice.

Sens. Jeff Merkley and Carl Levin on Thursday urged regulators not to delay writing a strong rule that would ban banks from proprietary trading.

A surge in mortgage lending drove strong profits for banks of all sizes in the first quarter, with some banks attributing the improvement to new regulations.

Arnold Schwarzenegger said, when he was first elected as governor of California, that he wanted to "blow up the boxes" of the state bureaucracy.

The House on Wednesday easily approved a bill that would provide small banks an exemption from clearing requirements for swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act.

American Banker apparently feels duty-bound to publish a story whenever it learns of a credit union that is not supporting the industry’s effort to enact legislation raising the cap that now constrains credit unions' ability to lend to small businesses ("Third Credit Union Dissents on Business Lending Bill," April 23).

Despite a growing number of calls from policymakers and regulators to break up the biggest banks, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke instead endorsed a batch of rules under Dodd-Frank that discouraged banks from becoming too large and overly complex.

Senate Democrats held a hearing Wednesday to build support for further expansions to the Obama administration's flagship refinance program.

A growing cadre of policymakers and regulators are arguing to break up the big banks. Here's why it's a bad idea.