Law and regulation

As Chris Larsen steps aside as Prosper's CEO, the company — and the rest of the peer-to-peer lending industry Larsen helped create — has the opportunity to change its course and possibly even merge with one of the very banks it originally sought to displace.

Crybaby bankers, when not engaged in weeping over new rules, focus on attacking "shadow banking," whether in the form of payday lending or money funds.

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones) - Citigroup Inc. said Monday it has sold its entire 2.71% equity stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, which will result in an after-tax gain of approximately $349 million.

In her column, "It's Time for Money Funds to Fess Up About Fluctuating Values," Barbara Rehm seems too intent on promoting regulations "that could make money funds miserable," regardless of their impact on investors, the financial system, and the economy.

During an appearance to business journalists, Cordray defended his agency's powers.

Clifford Rosenthal has been hired to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Financial Empowerment.

The Twitterverse welcomed the Federal Reserve Board as a member last week and the Fed amassed more than 15,300 followers in a matter of days.

The results of the Federal Reserve Board's stress tests separated the strong from the weak among the 19 largest banks. Following is a breakdown of selected results and how individual institutions fared.

The industry largely backed Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries. With Obama's chances of reelection improving, should bankers be worried?

An appellate court has ruled that a borrower has the right to sue a servicer for violating the Home Affordable Modification Program, but a judge noted that the decision would have been helped by input from the Treasury Department.

The terms of the national mortgage settlement overlap to some extent with existing federal consent orders against the largest servicers, which could complicate banks' compliance efforts with both — and the role of the external settlement monitor.

Community bankers are worried about stress tests, even though there is nothing in the Dodd-Frank Act requiring them to do it. While regulators are not requiring the tests for smaller banks, they are increasingly encouraging bankers conduct such tests.

In Barbara Rehm's column "It's Time for Money Funds to Fess Up About Fluctuating Values," she characterizes the $1 net asset value as "a fiction," which is defined at something feigned, invented or imagined.

Phishers turn the tables and mobile payments still scare consumers in the big security stories of the week through March 15.

The appeals court ruling is likely to perpetuate the perverse situation in which banks view SEC legal settlements as a cost of doing business rather than a deterrent for fraud.

Orrstown Financial Services Inc. in Shippensburg, Pa., said it expects to reach formal agreements with regulators that could require it to strengthen its credit risk management practices.

For years, Litton Loan Servicing was open to making a deal with delinquent borrowers. Then Goldman took over.

For young businesses to succeed, they first need business management tools, networks and coaching. Only after they have these things are they ready to take out loans.

Two managers of a debt collection business are banned from the industry and agreed to surrender their assets as part of settlements reached with the Federal Trade Commission.

WASHINGTON — Banks successfully warded off a measure Thursday that would have raised the small business lending cap for credit unions, but they continue to battle a second amendment to a House-passed bill that they also oppose.