Law and regulation

Bank of America has told regulators that it is willing to retreat from some parts of the country if its financial problems deepen, according to people familiar with the situation.

Private equity's impact on job creation has come to forefront over the last week of the Republican presidential candidate primaries, as critics took aim at Mitt Romney's Bain Capital career.

Tom Grady, tapped last year as Florida's banking commissioner, want to cuts regulatory costs to help state's survivors recover.

New Jersey has a long and rich history of nurturing inventions and inventors. The works of Edison, Einstein and Roebling continue to improve our lives.

Big banks may not be very happy about the newly-empowered Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but they're hoping to leave the unpleasant task of challenging the new agency to their nonbank competitors.

As European banks continue to establish standards for a Single Euro Payments Area, not nearly as much attention has focused on a similar process for ecommerce or mobile payments in the euro zone.

Bank lobbyists tend to dismiss the importance of the consumer agency as a voting issue in the presidential campaign. Here's why they shouldn't.

Richard Cordray told a group of reporters Thursday that businesses should support the bureau's mission, and said he plans to work with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to ensure the agency is mindful of industry concerns as well.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department issued a critical legal opinion Thursday asserting that President Obama is allowed to make recess appointments despite pro-forma Senate sessions in which no business is conducted, effectively validating the appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against suburban Chicago-based collection agency PN Financial, alleging the company has used abusive and threatening tactics against consumers.

Consumer litigation filed against collection agencies and creditors in 2011 set several records - including cases citing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA).

A Treasury Department report released this week showed that nearly 80% of participants in the Small Business Lending Fund have increased small business lending over average lending levels reported prior to the program's passage.

A group of 28 House Democrats wrote to President Obama urging him to address the nation's housing woes by installing a new leader at FHFA.

Top financial regulators — including the FDIC's Martin Gruenberg, the OCC's John Walsh and the Fed's Daniel Tarullo — will testify on Capitol Hill next week about their proposal to implement the Volcker Rule.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning to shutter 131 farm lending offices in 32 states as part of a broad mandate from the Obama administration to trim $150 million from its annual budget.

Businesses around the country appeared more willing to apply for loans in the last quarter of 2011, the Fed said.

With President Obama touting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a symbol of his support for the little guy, Republicans struggle for a response that resonates with voters.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released supplemental guidance Wednesday to its exam manual, which will help examiners looking at mortgage origination at both banks and nonbanks.

While most banks have stayed mum about Richard Corday's recess appointment, Citigroup weighed in with its analysis in a blog post Wednesday.

Alexi Giannoulias, a former Illinois Treasurer whose 2010 Senate campaign was clouded by the failure of his family's bank, has landed a new job at Bank of New York Mellon.