Law and regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau added yet another product line to its consumer complaint system Monday, signaling its priority on using new tools to collect consumer feedback.

Hundreds of municipalities are passing ordinances that could cost banks and others billions of dollars to register and maintain troubled homes that may never reach foreclosure.

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association on Monday unveiled a new task force to develop strategies to ensure an efficient payments market.

Every now and then some doomsday cultist predicts the end of the world, but it doesn't occur. No big news.

The GOP presidential candidate is calling on banks to grant more loan modifications, and blaming the federal government for preventing them from happening.

A two-year-old consent order between the banking unit of Macatawa Bank Corp. and regulators has been terminated after the Holland, Mich., company raised additional capital and reversed a string of money-losing quarters.

United Western Bancorp Inc. in Denver has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a move that would allow the company more time to pursue its lawsuit against federal regulators for seizing its thrift in January 2011.

The reviews, mandated by regulators, could turn up errors made by the mortgage servicers' auditors. What if the firm doing a foreclosure review previously audited the same client?

At a hearing last week, Rep. Ron Paul asked Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke whether he did his own grocery shopping — and then brought a prop with him to suggest why silver should be part of our monetary system.

WASHINGTON — The failure of Global Commerce Bank in Doraville, Ga., late Friday was estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. nearly $18 million.

Ballard Spahr has picked up former Bank of America counsel Stanley Mabbitt for its consumer financial services and mortgage banking groups.

Despite his harsh rhetoric directed at the financial industry, President Obama still raked in millions last week at four separate fundraising events for his supporters on Wall Street.

In last week's New Yorker, humorist Calvin Trillin turned his satirical gaze on Newt Gingrich and the GOP presidential candidate's claim that Freddie Mac hired him as a historian, and not as a lobbyist or influence peddler.

Yes, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke knows the price of milk, bread and eggs.

While community banks call on Congress to give the Transaction Account Guarantee more time, an array of - albeit costlier - alternatives for retaining customers and liquidity does exist.

The Treasury Department said Friday it has agreed to pay $171 million it had withheld from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase after the lenders fixed problems in how they handle loan assistance programs.

PennyMac founder and former Countrywide president Stanford L. Kurland has taken his share of criticism for helping to start the financial crisis. Now he is singing the praises of the government's latest attempt to fix it.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday issued guidance to community bank examiners on what they should consider when upgrading an institution's supervisory rating.

The Federal Reserve Board said Friday it will give the industry more time to weigh in on a batch of rules that will impact how much capital banks must hold

After more than 25 years as national bank, Equity Bank in Andover, Kan., is switching to a state charter.