Law and regulation

Citigroup Inc.'s failure to see that it would not pass the Federal Reserve Board's stress tests has left the firm in a challenging position — and may serve as a stark lesson to other banks.

With the overseers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac digging in their heels against the use of principal write-downs for troubled homeowners, Senate Democrats pressed their case for a course change on Thursday.

The $25 billion national mortgage settlement essentially allows the five largest servicers to police themselves - which has made many consumer advocates surprisingly happy.

The FDIC is holding an auction for jewelry it inherited from the failed Tennessee Commerce Bank. The bank picked up the baubles after a jewelry store defaulted.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency moved Thursday to restrict home builders from imposing a controversial fee on property transactions that critics call unfair to home buyers.

Senate Democrats plan to introduce to an amendment to a new jobs bill that would extend the charter of the Export-Import Bank for another four years and raise the bank's lending limit by 40%, to $140 billion.

Last year, for the first time in anyone's recollection, there were no new bank charters approved, with the exception of three specifically blessed to acquire failed banks.

A trade group representing bank boards says directors have become "overwhelmed" by rules and regulations and is urging banking agencies and Congress to quickly take steps to ease their burden.

The fight over the Durbin Amendment continues, as financial institutions take issue with a lawsuit that retailers filed late last year against the Fed.

The Treasury Department in 2010 took a massive haircut on its investment in Pacific Capital and now stands to make roughly 90 cents on the dollar from the bank's sale to UnionBanCal. It's a reminder that taking your lumps early on problem assets can be beneficial.

Congress should repeal Sarbanes-Oxley to increase the flow of equity capital to micro- and small-cap public companies. Lawmakers also must increase the allotment for the SBA 7(a) program and guarantee it exists for the next three years.

Banks have made considerable progress fortifying their financials recently. But the Fed's latest stress test results show laggards remain and left some questioning the value of the entire exercise.

Various organizations representing card issuers joined a broad coalition of card issuers March 15 in a brief opposing a lawsuit filed by merchants claiming the Federal Reserve did not go far enough in capping fees on debit transactions last year.

The recent $25 billion settlement by 49 attorneys general and the Obama Administration against the five largest mortgage servicers for deficiencies in their foreclosure practices is emblematic of misdirected energy and bad public policy. Like the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the settlement is living proof that the judgment of politicians can be clouded by fixes that sound good, but miss the target. State and federal governments' need/desire to punish financial services companies is actually constricting lending and impeding the economic recovery.

The Treasury Department is planning a new strategy to recoup its Tarp investments: auctioning off outstanding preferred stock in six banks. The six are: Banner of Walla Walla, Wash.; First Financial of Charleston, S.C.; MainSource of Greensburg, Ind.; Seacoast in Stuart, Fla.; Wilshire in Los Angeles; and WSFS in Wilmington, Del.

Tom Grady resigns after eight months on the job to temporarily lead Florida's biggest insurer.

MB Financial Inc. in Chicago has repurchased $196 million of preferred shares issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Federal Reserve's stress tests and capital decisions this week help clarify which banks can afford to buy, how much they can pay and which might need to sell.

Explore the negative impact of the Durbin Amendment on small businesses, including increased fees and reduced banking services, contrary to claims of negligible effects.

During a congressional hearing, consumer advocates criticized a range of prepaid industry practices. But they also acknowledged that Congress may not need to act now, given the CFPB's oversight of the industry.