Law and regulation

Citigroup came under political fire Monday for reporting frequent flier miles as taxable income in certain circumstances. But Sen. Sherrod Brown, who blasted Citi, had to back away from the criticism after the IRS came to the aid of the banking company.

In the Federal Reserve's latest senior loan officer opinion survey, most U.S. firms said they expect improvements in asset quality in the coming year, but were less optimistic than last year.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its first semi-annual report to Congress on Monday, outlining the steps it has taken to get the bureau off the ground in its first six months.

Republic Bancorp and the FDIC seemed to have put last year's legal tussle to rest after reaching an agreement to transfer ownership of Tennessee Commerce Bank.

The New Jersey Republican looks likely to pass his legislation through the House, but continues to face an uphill battle in the Senate.

The race for the exits is intensifying among big banks that purchase mortgages from correspondent lenders, creating liquidity issues for loan originators and radically reshaping mortgage servicing.

Under a recently-enacted law, Obama is to reduce Iranian oil revenue by punishing banks or other parties that make payments to Iran's central bank. Thus, the interbank payment system becomes a tool of American foreign policy.

In a recent speech at Osawatomie High School in Kansas, President Obama acknowledged that a strong and competitive financial industry is inextricably linked to a healthy economy. This is a message that we believe deserves greater attention by all policymakers, including the presidential aspirants.

In the matter of an evening, Tennessee jumped from having no bank failures so far this crisis, to being tied with Florida so far this year.

WASHINGTON — When weighing financial-aid offers, among students' concerns are how much debt they will have at graduation and how much they will owe in loan payments each month.

Joint federal and state effort to probe securitization practices leading to crisis will include information-sharing.

The financial industry's troubles with a controversial type of insurance coverage appear to be spreading to new areas as New York State's Department of Financial Services issues dozens of subpoenas.

With scant details of new plan to help homeowners, analysts weigh in on whether yet another program will help.

The foreclosure reviews mandated by the Fed and the OCC have a better chance of helping current and future borrowers than the state attorneys general settlement, if it ever happens.

For a smaller banks such as the $409 million-asset The Bank of Georgia, figuring out how to use social media safely and legally isn't easy.

The prepaid card company will introduce a bank account with a traditional debit card attached to it sometime this year, chief executive Steve Streit told American Banker.

Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. lender, will close a proprietary-trading desk that makes bets with the firm's own money and most of the unit's staff will leave before rules banning the practice take effect.

Although the Senate thinks of itself as the more civilized of Congress' two chambers, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray cannot count on a warm welcome from everyone when he visits the Banking Committee next week.

If you wanted an up-close view of just how polarized American politics are in 2012, the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall was the place to be on Tuesday night.

A review of lawsuits filed against collection agencies and creditors in the first two-week reporting period for 2012 shows that Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits are down from the same two-week period a year ago.