Law and regulation

The Treasury Department is looking to fully vacate its role as a common shareholder of Central Pacific Financial in Honolulu.

WASHINGTON–The nation's capital is starting to pay attention to mobile payments. Whether that sharpening focus will help or hurt the industry's growth, however, remains an open question.

Lawsuits filed against debt collectors and creditors rose in the first half of March compared to a slower February and the year-ago period, with increases reported in every category, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based research firm that compiled the data from U.S. District Courts.

The Senate finally confirmed Martin Gruenberg and three others to serve on the FDIC board, but — in an rare omission — did not confirm Gruenberg to serve as chairman of the agency. Thomas Curry, however, was confirmed as Comptroller of the Currency.

Wilshire Bancorp in Los Angeles has exited the Troubled Asset Relief Program by repurchasing the bulk of its shares it issued to the Treasury Department at a slight discount.

One impact of the financial crisis was that it brought the central bank back to its original mission of financial stability, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

A Fed witness calls for more collaboration between the CFPB, FTC, and FCC regarding how to regulate the rapidly growing market.

The profile of a typical bank failure has taken on a new shape in 2012, with the combustion of construction loan portfolios giving way business loan blowups.

Lawmakers grill CFPB chief on various aspects of bureau's work, but begin hearing with harsh review of how he was installed.

The Federal Reserve Board is preparing to release yet another important rule required by Dodd-Frank: how and why fraud occurs in debit card transactions and who should have to pay for it.

The Treasury Department this week appointed directors to join a pair of banking companies that have missed multiple dividend payments tied to the Troubled Asset Relief Program: Intervest Bancshares and First Security Group.

Zions Bancorporation (ZION) in Salt Lake City said Thursday that its first-quarter earnings will be reduced by roughly 11 cents per share as a result of its repayment of $700 million to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Senate Banking Committee approved the nominations of two Federal Reserve governors, as well as a JPMorgan Chase executive as an independent FDIC director.

The American Bankers Association is opposed to legislation that would expand a credit union's ability to make small business loans. Last week, ABA members went to Washington and gave lawmakers an earful.

Scores of banks remain in the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program more than three years after its inception, and nine states account for more than half of all remaining Tarp participants. Here is a breakdown of those states, with numbers as of Feb. 29.

The Treasury Department on Thursday announced that it lost about $50 million in the public offering of its preferred stock in six smaller banks this week, though the department netted a modest profit when counting dividends and interest paid on the investments over the past three years.

Still mourning the demise of overdraft-fee income, smaller banks nevertheless are finding a variety of ways to compensate.

Last week, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board held its first public hearing relating to its 2011 findings that all of the Big Four CPA firms [Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers] have failed to follow generally accepted accounting principles and frequently lack independence from management.

For now at least, the Obama administration is declining to endorse legislation by Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin that would allow borrowers to discharge their private student loan debt in bankruptcy. But Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sounded sympathetic to Durbin's argument.

Senate Democrats are taking a final stab at confirming appointees to the FDIC, OCC and Fed before the Senate adjourns at the end of the week.