Law and regulation

Payment innovation quickened its pace from technology to strategic partnerships last year, setting the stage for some dominant trends in 2012.

As the number of bank failures declines, the FDIC must cope with both 800 remaining problem banks and the risks posed by a future crisis.

President Obama on Wednesday appointed Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a recess appointment, dismissing efforts by Republicans to prevent such a move.

Despite improvements in the job market and low mortgage rates, Federal Reserve officials seem disappointed that their efforts to perk up housing are having little impact, according to minutes of the central bank's December monetary policy committee meeting.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday sharply denounced President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Kevin Kabat believes Fifth Third Bancorp can boost lending this year, somewhat offsetting low interest rates. He’d like to pursue acquisitions, though he admits that M&A activity may underwhelm again in 2012.

If Yaron Brook, the president of the Ayn Rand Institute, had his way, the next U.S. president would be former BB&T Corp. Chief Executive John Allison.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce Wednesday that he will recess appoint Richard Cordray to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, bypassing Senate Republicans who had blocked the nomination.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce Wednesday that he will recess appoint Richard Cordray to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, bypassing Senate Republicans who had blocked the nomination.

The credit card industry's total revenue fell to $154.9 billion in 2011, as borrowing grew sluggishly and issuers struggled to overcome regulatory restrictions, according to advisory firm R.K. Hammer.

President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head of the CFPB will actually do more harm to the fledgling agency than good.

A number of analysts and attorneys are convinced that smaller banks will feel the effects of new rules associated with the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued announcements with respect to the mortgage consent orders stating that consumers who believe they were financially harmed during the mortgage foreclosure process by specific financial institutions in 2009 and 2010 can potentially receive compensation.

The Federal Reserve Board is continuing its mission to make the central bank more transparent by releasing senior officials' projections for the direction of monetary policy.

A judge in New York state court Tuesday delivered an important ruling in favor of mortgage-bond insurers in a case over mortgage-backed securities Countrywide Financial had insured by MBIA.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department would begin to collect fees from large banks on July 20 to fund the Office of Financial Research and Financial Stability Oversight Council under a proposal published Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase’s CEO will have the misfortune of catching a significant amount of fallout from the MF Global mess.

Required by Congress to remove credit ratings from banking rules, regulators have devised a plan anchored in a Paris-based group's rankings that assign zero risk to most European government debt.

Ninety-two banks failed in 2011, well below the previous two years' totals. The list of what regulators call "problem banks" is shrinking. And the latest two bank failures were the first in nearly a month — the longest failure-free period in almost three years.

Michael J. Covatto, president of Unicredit America Inc. when the Erie, Pa. collection agency was accused of using a fake courtroom to intimidate debtors, is declining to answer questions about Unicredit's operations by invoking the Fifth Amendment.