Law and regulation

Although Tom Curry, the new Comptroller of the Currency, has sat on the FDIC board for several years, he has been remarkably quiet about his views on key issues. We offer a look back at comments he's given on how he will tackle some tricky questions.

JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $20 million to settle charges that the bank used customer funds to calculate Lehman Brothers' credit in the two years leading up to the financial crisis in the largest settlement related to a customer account violation, regulators said Wednesday.

More than a year and a half after Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Act, regulators finalized a critical rule Tuesday detailing how they will identify nonbank financial firms that pose a threat to the system.

The Justice Department alleges GFI Mortgage Bankers charged minority borrowers higher interest rates and fees based on race or national origin, but a lawyer for the company says the claims are weak. The move may embolden other banks to challenge the DOJ.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday ordered Morgan Stanley (MS) to review thousands of foreclosures conducted by Saxon Mortgage Services, a mortgage-servicing unit it sold this year, and said it would levy fines against the company.

The Federal Housing Administration has made a last-minute attempt to soften new underwriting guidelines that penalized borrowers with ongoing credit disputes.

Surveys show that what Americans want most is a good job, no surprise there. Over the last few decades, the best jobs have been in the public sector and those requiring a college degree. But the productivity of a growing public sector already suffers from rising costs and diminishing returns that impede economic growth, as in Greece where public sector employment doubled in the last decade or in Spain, where youth unemployment is 50%.

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday sought to clarify a chief requirement that, if met, would result in a nonbank financial company falling under the central bank's supervision.

As a regulatory deadline rapidly approaches, big banks are becoming increasingly anxious about how they should comply with a ban on proprietary trading (the so-called Volcker Rule).

Regulators alleged a "wash trading scheme of massive proportion" by Royal Bank of Canada, which was accused in a lawsuit Monday of unlawfully trading hundreds of millions of dollars in stock futures in order to get tax benefits.

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee hope to make it easier for homeowners with Fannie and Freddie mortgages to refinance.

Thomas Curry, who was approved by the Senate last week, will lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency starting next Monday.

First Savings Bank Northwest in Renton, Wash., has been released from a formal enforcement order with its regulators after substantially reducing its problem loans and demonstrating that it can earn money on a consistent basis.

A homeowner's struggle to get a loan modification demonstrates the insanity (and inanity) of dealing with lumbering corporate bureaucracies.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are calling for immediate action to pass long-stalled data-security legislation in the face of last week’s news of a massive data breach at cards processor Global Payments Inc. (see story).

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are calling for immediate action to pass long-stalled data-security legislation in the face of last week’s news of a massive data breach at cards processor Global Payments Inc. (see story).

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is lauding the state's House of Representatives for passing the Debtors' Rights Act of 2012, a bill aimed at protecting consumers from being taken to jail for unpaid debts. House legislators voted 107-0-1 to approve House Bill 5434.

Compliance departments are being stressed like never before by disclosures, audits and testing. Automated compliance platforms are one way to bring it all under control.

Should bank directors and officers have to give up their insurance coverage for civil money penalties?

A few weeks ago, President Obama released his fiscal 2013 budget proposal. The $3.8 trillion spending request-spelled out over 256 pages-is available for download at whitehouse.gov. Or just peruse our quick tour of the items most relevant to banks.