Law and regulation

Most shareholders are not activists. Relatively few voice displeasure over executive pay, or other issues such as reappointment of ineffective audit firms. About the only thing they do wake up for is to complain about poor dividends.

One of the most important regulatory decisions currently facing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is how to define the characteristics of a "qualified mortgage." This decision will have an enormous impact on the mortgage markets, and will ultimately determine the types of mortgages generally available in the United States, and the minimum qualifications for those seeking to obtain a home loan.

The Small Business Lending Fund provided an exit path for the healthiest institutions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, but left the latter program full of weak banks with dim repayment prospects, according to a report from the special inspector for Tarp.

Truman Bank of St. Louis has been undercapitalized since late last year and the Federal Reserve Board has issued a Prompt Corrective Action order saying said it has 90 days to either bolster its capital levels or find a buyer.

Ignore the rhetoric from both sides on the issue. The odds that the business lending bill will be enacted this year are significantly slimmer than they were just last week.

Wal-Mart stands accused of a major bribery scheme that cuts to the core of the way this international giant does business in Mexico – and demonstrates how little U.S. regulators and investors know.

Zions Bancorporation (ZION) will raise up to $250 million in fresh capital to redeem outstanding preferred shares, including stock issued to the Treasury Department from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

WASHINGTON–The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking input for a study that could pave the way for new limits on consumer arbitration clauses.

Most major banks sell rights to soured loans to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar. Those pennies can add up to tens of millions in dollars in revenue for a large card issuer, but American Express and USAA have long left that money on the table.

Strategic defaulters have lost the incentive to pay. Something should be done to replace that incentive, not simply reduce debt.

The CFPB is seeking information for a study about consumer arbitration clauses, viewed by observers as the first step toward imposing restrictions on the controversial provisions.

One of the nation's largest medical collection agencies allegedly placed employees in emergency rooms, cancer wards and delivery rooms to extract payments from patients before they were seen by medical staff, according to a report released Tuesday by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson's office.

Senka Huskic is mad, very mad and wants you to share that anger. Think a "Network" kind of anger, a Howard Beale kind of anger, a genuine bona fide "I'm mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore" kind of anger.

A program unveiled by two federal agencies Tuesday will allow banks to provide more than just loans to aspiring small-business owners.

In the House, the partisan debate over how to end the too-big-to-fail problem has become part of the argument over deficit reduction.

The chief financial officer of a collection agency in Kalispell, Mont. was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for tax evasion and ordered to pay $159,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Goldman Sachs shareholders will decide next month whether to reelect board member James A. Johnson, a former CEO of Fannie Mae, who is facing vocal opposition from a large mutual fund investor.

Is it fair to give a 30% haircut to borrowers who put zero down, and not to their neighbors who put 30% down? Or to distribute taxpayer funds to five states with half the country's negative equity?

Zions Bancorporation's (ZION) repayment of half of its funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program tamped down earnings in the first quarter, but its core results still handily beat expectations.

In inaugural meeting for directors Hoenig and Norton, agency's staff outlined further reductions in projected losses from bank failures.