Law and regulation

Community banks are warning Congress that allowing interest to be paid on such accounts will help large banks and hurt local communities, but they appear to be gaining little traction.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said new deposit fee restrictions have compelled the New York company to shy away from building new branches in lower-income areas.

In his second day of testimony, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke provided some relief to foreign governments who have objected to the proposed 'Volcker Rule' by saying U.S. regulators were seriously considering complaints logged against the regulation.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is embarking on an ambitious study to better understand community banks. It doing so, it's looking beyond the traditional measure — size.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Fueled by higher bank fees and the Bank Transfer Day movement, credit unions scored some of their biggest membership gains ever in the second half of 2011, NCUA reported this morning.

WASHINGTON — Customers will now be able to file complaints about their checking and savings accounts with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Heritage Commerce Bancorp Inc. in San Jose has received approval from its regulators and the Treasury Department to repay the $40 million it received from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Truth-in-Lending Act lawsuits filed against collection agencies and creditors slowed in the first half of February after an active second half of January, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based firm that tracks the data from U.S. District Courts.

Commodities Futures Trading Commission commissioner Scott O' Malia says the CFTC has spent far too much of its time and resources on swaps rulemaking while "averting its gaze from the futures markets and their developments."

To the surprise of no one closely watching a new bill seeking to give banks some cover from examiners, federal regulators confirmed that no, they would not be OK with Congress creating an alternative appeals route for banks that want to dispute their exam ratings.

The current regulatory approach to compliance has led bankers to stop offering certain consumer loan products or to increase what they charge. We all lose if the cost of compliance forces regulated lenders to send customers to the back-alley loan shark.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is set to expire at the end of the year. While extending relief to stressed homeowners seems a no-brainer with millions of mortgages still underwater, some worry the measure could be allowed to die.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Thursday will announce the claims process for thrift shareholders who last year won a breach-of-contract case stemming from the savings-and-loan crisis.

When the 14 biggest mortgage servicers signed consent orders last April over foreclosure misdeeds, they hoped the deal would indemnify them against further claims. Regulators now appear unlikely to grant them blanket immunity.

Regulators say risk-based capital is the ratio they most want to see strengthened, community bankers say. That's a problem because minimum requirements could rise and examiners are said to exercise broad discretion in enforcement.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that U.S. regulators will not deliver a final rule by July 21, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is seeking comment on a proposal that would require banks and other financial institutions to identify beneficial ownership of their accountholders.

The government's stick-a-finger-in-the-dike approach to the housing crisis isn't working. We need more drastic solutions if we want to turn the market around.

Fannie Mae, in a new SEC filing, says that in late January it cut off Bank of America from selling most types of loans to the GSE because of "delays" by the lender in making good on outstanding buyback requests.

Fannie Mae will request another $4.6 billion in U.S. government aid after posting a $2.41 billion loss in the fourth quarter, the mortgage finance company said Wednesday.