Law and regulation

Banks with more than $50 billion of assets must be "well prepared" to meet new international capital standards when they file capital plans next year, according to a final rule issued by the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday.

While banks earned $35.3 billion in the third quarter, the FDIC warned that such profits are unsustainable without greater loan growth.

This story has been updated from its original version to incude additional content.

A group of retail trade groups allege that the central bank did not properly follow the instructions of Congress when it capped interchange fees at around 21 cents per transaction.

At the end of October, the Obama Administration announced changes to the Home Affordability Refinance Program that conceivably will make as many as 2 million more homeowners eligible for refinancing over the next two years. This will lower the default risk for the government sponsored entities and their ultimate backers, the American taxpayers, and should provide some level of economic stimulus.

As Dodd-Frank regulations come into focus, critics say they're complex to the point of being unworkable. Here's a simple solution.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., has completed the sale of $115 million in senior notes and will use the proceeds to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog reportedly has launched a probe into whether banks and card networks manipulated the service fees they charge their customers, local newspaper the Korea Herald reported Nov. 20.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released new details Tuesday about the progress servicers are making in fixing problems with their foreclosure practices. The actions are required under consent orders regulators signed with the 14 largest mortgage servicers in April.

The banking industry earned $35.3 billion in the third quarter, a nearly 50% increase from the same point last year and the highest level for profits since the second quarter of 2007, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bank of America Corp.'s board has been told the company could face a public enforcement action if regulators aren't satisfied with recent steps taken to strengthen the bank, said people familiar with the situation.

Consumer groups applaud agency's decision to allow more time for comment on Cap One's deal for the credit card portfolio of HSBC.

There was a hard lesson learned by many in the Occupy movement last week. When you push the so-called "establishment," they push back… with a vengeance. It was an "Iron Heel," response, with billy clubs in the ribs, pepper spray in the face and a general disregard of the right to peacefully protest.

Heightened regulation is forcing more bank buyers to overhaul their entire computer platform as regulators zero in on a greater need for compliance.

A new Nevada law has gummed up the works of banks seeking to process foreclosures in the state, causing Bank of America and other major players to all but halt new foreclosure starts.

Skip Humphrey, the head of the CFPB's Office for Older Americans talks about elder financial abuse, coordinating protections for seniors, being an older American himself and what banks can do to reach out to older customers.

MSNBC has unearthed a leaked memo from a Washington lobbying firm proposing to the American Bankers Association that it develop a "response" to Occupy Wall Street costing $850,000.

In the last three months of 2010, banks, credit unions and other lenders made $12 billion of Small Business Administration-backed loans, the most in any quarter in the SBA's history and more than double the volume in any quarter over the last four years.

Watchdog agency says 125 alleged schemes have been shut down through partnering with online search sites.

Banks and others involved in buying and selling loans have won some battles and lost others relating to Dodd-Frank implementing rules. The next fight is over how tough to treat the cash-loan market.