Law and regulation

The regulations added in the wake of the financial crisis have made the system safer, but it's time to pause on new rules and find ways to improve what's been put in place already, according to the top executives at some of the largest banks.

Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard said in a speech Friday that distributed ledger technology — known as "blockchain" — has great potential for the payment system and important markets, but most of those applications are still years away from maturity.

WASHINGTON — The Basel Committee will move forward with its final regulatory capital rules by yearend despite threats from the European Union that its members may choose to ignore the standards out of fear that they might stifle growth.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Friday sought to reassure banks they would not be penalized for the unforeseeable consequences of their presence in certain foreign areas, a fear that has driven a trend called de-risking.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new regulation governing prepaid cards will disrupt consumer practices, drive up costs and wreak havoc on a fast-growing sector within the payments industry.

Current proposals about what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that still focus on a government-backed solution are misdirected.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

A former top regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wants to abandon the development of the common securitization platform and use the existing Ginnie Mae platform to issue government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on the financial services panel introduced legislation Wednesday that would help banks remotely open accounts.

As the financial world comes to grips with the news that the European Union has no intention of implementing the final elements of Basel III, observers are scrambling to figure out how much impact the split could have on U.S. banks and global financial stability.

If Wells Fargo employees were fired for trying to stop the bank’s improper account practices, as has been claimed in court, it shines a spotlight on the need for more whistleblower assistance.

Fourteen senators including Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for the Justice Department to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by senior executives at Wells Fargo.

Community bankers say that reclassifying "reciprocal deposits" as a less risky type of deposit will help them to compete with large banks. Some deposit brokers are crying foul, arguing that the proposed legislation would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Observers, meanwhile, say the bill is so narrowly written that it would hardly affect competition.

The agency said Wednesday it has received more than 500,000 comments on the proposal — and many more may be filed in the coming days.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued long-awaited guidance Wednesday directing banks to follow a series of best practices before deciding to cut off correspondent banking relationships.

Bankers already scrambling to comply with a number of different federal cybersecurity standards are raising concerns about a proposal from New York to layer on some additional state rules.

The biggest surprise for many who awaited the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule for prepaid cards was discovering that its reach extends to some of the payments industry’s highest-profile tech firms, such as PayPal Inc.’s Venmo, Square Inc.’s Square Cash and Dwolla.

Popular Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will take a $55 million hit to third-quarter earnings after its bank lost an arbitration battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

It's time not only to hold banks accountable for their security, but also to provide meaningful regulatory guidance on how to achieve security.

For regulators to develop a unified framework for fintech companies to operate in, they first have to come to a consensus.