Law and regulation

The CFPB, Treasury, and SIGTARP have formed a task force to target mortgage modification scams.

Rep. Barney Frank, the lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said he doesn't see Republicans budging on their demands for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau any time soon, and expects that the confirmation of its first director will depend on the election next year.

Total lawsuits filed in the U.S. this year citing alleged Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations reached 10,402 through mid-October, well ahead of last year's pace when the 10,000 mark was reached on Dec. 1, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company that tracks the data from the courts.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Thursday sued five national mortgage lenders — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial — alleging their foreclosure practices were unlawful and deceptive.

The Federal Trade Commission this week is sending an estimated $90,000 in total refunds to 2,900 victims of a company that allegedly marketed worthless debt management services, before being found in contempt for violating a court order barring its activities.

Jimmy Didden of National Capitol doesn't believe that intense regulation of the big banks will make the system or the economy any stronger.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lacks leadership at the moment, but not direction. Although Elizabeth Warren has left and Richard Cordray has yet to be confirmed, their laundry list is extensive and they're getting down to business.

The CFPB can work to safeguard checking account holders by setting regulations around the disclosure of fees and overdraft options. No matter how uniformity is reached, it will enhance competition and make the market run more efficiently.

Banks launched later in the decade, whose ramps to profitability lagged their predecessors’, provide a cautionary tale about headwinds that can emerge in an unstable economy, and the dangers of piling into a strategy based on brokered deposits and real estate lending.

The roughly 800 banks opened since 2002 have failed at about twice the industrywide pace. But some, including a few that have been repurposed as rollup vehicles, have prospered. The tables here rank the best and worst performers among the de novos of the past decade.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby is asking for an investigation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's oversight of MF Global.

The Treasury said Thursday it expects to gain net proceeds of $3.4 million after pricing warrants to purchase shares in Associated Banc-Corp., one of the financial institutions it rescued during the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday had a message for those hoping to water down last year's financial regulatory overhaul — it's not going to happen.

The system is likely to be a critical piece of how the CFPB writes new regulations. We offer an inside view of how it works.

A proposal to allow more small banks to avoid SEC registration will be highlighted by the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday — a sign that the issue has become a priority on Capitol Hill.

The measures, which passed the House Financial Services Committee with bipartisan support, reopen last year's debate on regulating derivatives.

Federal Reserve's Beige Book shows U.S. consumers continued to take steps to refinance their homes just as commercial mortgages saw an uptick in demand — a strong reversal from this summer's economic readout.

There are signs that community bankers and regulators are trying to thaw relations. But uncertainly over the Dodd-Frank Act and longstanding distrust remain impediments to tangible progress, observers say.

Acquirers representing merchants such as coffee shops and quick-service restaurants may be paying more in interchange for some small-ticket transactions under the Federal Reserve Board’s reduced debit rates than they are for cards exempt from the new rate cap, notes an attorney who frequently deals with clients in the payments industry.

The SEC isn't likely to accede to foreign pressure and adopt international accounting standards anytime soon, but its actions are steadily bringing U.S. rules in line.