Law and regulation

WASHINGTON–Key congressional backers of a 2009 law that strengthened consumer protections for credit card users are now concerned that the Federal Reserve Board has gone too far with regulations that could restrict credit to stay-at-home mothers.

WASHINGTON — Key congressional backers of a 2009 law that strengthened consumer protections for credit-card users are now concerned that the Federal Reserve Board has gone too far with regulations that could restrict credit to stay-at-home mothers.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who last week filed a lawsuit against Ally Financial alleging that the firm pursued foreclosures illegally, is now asking Congress to investigate the firm's conduct.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday said it may permanently reduce incentive payments for JPMorgan Chase unless it makes much-needed improvements to its performance in the Home Affordable Modification Program.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon continued to bash global banking regulations Wednesday, while at the same time vigorously defending his own bank's capital and business positions, including increasing exposure to Europe's stressed countries.

Federal bank regulators moved ahead with an effort required under Dodd-Frank to reduce reliance on credit ratings in assessing risk on bank's trading books.

On the eve of a key Senate vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Democratic supporters sought to turn up the heat on their entrenched Republican colleagues.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council, the newest, largest, and surely the most unusual multi-member agency ever to be created by Congress, has begun its work. Comprised of ten voting members — the secretary of the Treasury, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the heads of the independent financial regulatory agencies, and a presidential appointee with insurance expertise — and five "advisory" nonvoting members, the FSOC has been given the mission, broadly stated, of protecting the financial stability of the United States.

Lower failure activity drives spending decline, but agency adds resources for Dodd-Frank implementation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a prototype for a shorter, easier-to-understand credit card agreement on Wednesday as part of its ongoing effort to improve disclosures for financial products.

Over the last five years, the KBW index of 24 large-cap bank stocks is down 61% while the S&P 500 has been flat. Year to date, BKX has lost 24% while the S&P has gained 0.3%. This disparity between banks and the broader market isn't just about performance.

Bank of America will pay $315 million to settle investors' claims that they were duped about mortgage-backed investments sold by its Merrill Lynch unit.

Back in May of 2007 my company started working on a documentary, "Foreclosure Diaries," detailing a crisis that was only beginning to make itself felt. We spent time in what was then the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis; a devastated neighborhood in Cleveland known as Slavic Village. Stripped bare of habitable housing, this once bustling blue collar area was an eerie tableaux of vacant, ramshackle homes; allowed to deteriorate by outside investors who had bought and sold foreclosures, en masse, aiming to profit from a quick flip to other sets of investors; all to feed the endless appetite of Wall Street's securitization magog.

The inspector general of the FDIC is looking into media leaks of early drafts of the Volcker Rule, including American Banker's publication of the proposal a week before its public release.

The Senate Banking Committee hearing on implementation of Dodd-Frank touched on a lot of core issues, such as capital requirements, the Volcker Rule and a risk retention proposal, but the pending Senate vote over the nomination of Richard Cordray to the CFPB overshadowed most of those issues.

The Federal Reserve has hit Waccamaw Bank with a prompt corrective action ordering the Whiteville, N.C., bank to increase equity or sell itself.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging legislators to investigate alleged improper foreclosure practices by Ally Financial, which said last week it would scale back most of its mortgage lending in the state.

Ryan Gilbert's recent BankThink article "Give Nonbanks a Nationwide Reach" is part of a massive lobbying campaign by major payday lenders and others to sway Congress to pass H.R. 1909.

In an unusual step, the Federal Reserve Board took direct aim at recent news reports that portray the U.S. central bank as coming to the aid of the largest firms at the expense of the American public.

A credit union association has "egg on its face" after scaling back its estimate of membership gains, one banking representative says. Another cautions against too much celebration.