Law and regulation

Continental Illinois' internal auditors had been documenting the deterioration of underwriting quality. Unfortunately, no one listened.

Examiners are not on same page as their bosses in Washington when it comes to "getting capital to small businesses," says the chairman of a key House subcommittee.

WASHINGTON — Most thrift holding companies will get a two-year phase in period for following Federal Reserve Board reporting requirements while others will initially be exempted, the central bank said Friday.

Consumers soon will be paying more for government-backed mortgages now that the House and Senate have reached a deal extending a payroll tax break for two months.

An outrush of deposits from foreign bank operations in the U.S. has forced them to cut their balance sheets by a fifth since midyear, but they still managed a 3% increase in business loans.

"I'm not sitting here being cautious awaiting some confirmation hearing," the acting director says. "I'm going ahead and doing this the way I think the law frames it."

MutualBank in Muncie, Ind., has received regulatory approval to convert from a federal savings bank to a state commercial bank.

More than 120 House members, most of them Republicans, are asking regulators to push back their schedule for implementing the Volcker rule's restrictions on proprietary trading.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., said Thursday that it paid $900,000 to repurchase a warrant it had issued to the Treasury Department as part of its participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The California attorney general's lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raises questions about preemption and the FHFA's authority, but seems unlikely to produce revelations about foreclosures.

The divide between Democrats and Republicans over the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is so vast that it's preventing them from approving key financial appointees who the parties otherwise agree on.

A federal court has ordered an individual behind a payday lending scheme and two companies he controlled to pay $294,536 for illegally trying to garnish borrowers’ wages, and for using other illegal collection practices.

With the settlement talks over foreclosure violations inching closer to a final deal, two members of Congress are urging the Justice Department not to approve any deal that releases servicers from violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has reached a $335 million settlement with Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, in the largest fair lending action in history.

Now that the Office of Thrift Supervision has been eliminated, First Federal Savings and Loan Association in Charleston, S.C., does not see much reason to retain its federal charter.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's quarterly mortgage metrics report found that new foreclosures increased 21% in the third quarter, and will remain at the current levels as servicers work through a large overhang of seriously delinquent mortgages.

Occupy Wall Street will enlist the aid and support of B, C, and D-list celebrities in numerous REO takeovers around the country. And other bold predictions.

The most wonderful time of the year is always followed by the practice of resolving to improve in the new year. So in the spirit of the season, here are five suggested 2012 resolutions for federal policymakers.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering a plan that would enable underwater homeowners who have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection to make only principal payments — and no interest — on a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage for five years.

Roger S. Berkowitz, the chief executive of Legal Sea Foods, has been elected to the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.