Law and regulation

Following an investigative report by 60 Minutes, support has grown rapidly this week for legislation that seeks to stop members of Congress from profiting from their own inside knowledge.

The study by a consumer advocacy group finds that 3.6 million households that received mortgages during the housing bubble remain at immediate risk of foreclosure.

Following nomination hearing, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee says Gruenberg, Curry and Hoenig should move "all together."

Credit-union leaders called on Congress Nov. 16 to amend required disclosures at ATMs, eliminate annual privacy notices required for members and reduce financial reporting for small credit unions as part of its next round of sought regulatory relief.

MF Global's failure is an example of how a financial firm should be able to fail and not lead to systemic risk in the financial system, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on CNBC Thursday.

Consumers sued a total of 498 different collection agencies and creditors in the Oct. 16-31 period, down from 597 in the first half of October, according to data from U.S. District Courts.

In the first criminal case involving robo-signing of mortgage documents, Nevada's attorney general filed charges Wednesday against two people accused of filing tens of thousands of false documents.

The Treasury and the banking industry would like nothing better than to see more credit unions convert to taxpaying banks. This is hardly going to happen if CUs perceive the OCC as an inhospitable regulator of their mutual form.

Risk management expert Clifford Rossi looks at two recently released documents on the FHA, which he says together "bear ominous warnings about a portfolio in excess of $1 trillion."

Financial Services chairman says he never used insider information in making trades, and the market's poor state in 2008 was well-known.

Regulators are writing massive, complex rules that will be impossible to enforce. Editor at Large Barbara A. Rehm offers an alternative.

American Banker's editors discuss Wal-Mart's latest attempt to eat bankers' lunch.

Card data security risks for online merchants or those operating payment schemes via cloud computing will get much attention next year from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.

The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said Wednesday that it worked with Google to suspend advertising for a slew of alleged online mortgage modification scams.

Anemic household expenditures this year heightened anxiety that the economy would stall out, but growth in spending on plastic has remained healthy. An increased appetite for big-ticket items among households that are surviving the malaise probably explains much of the phenomenon.

A pair of healthy banks destined to be partners are nearing deadline as investors anxiously wait.

This is the time of year when bank boards of directors and management begin the strategic planning process for the following year. There will be few years in the careers of any of us that will provide as many seemingly one-time events as will this coming year, 2012.

In testimony on Capitol Hill, Freddie Mac chief executive officer Charles Haldeman Jr. and Fannie Mae president and CEO Michael Williams said that competitive salaries and bonuses are necessary to keep employees who can run the firms effectively.

It's time for our regulators to think broadly about what our financial system needs and then take a stand. Simply grinding out Dodd-Frank proposals that no one understands — like the risk-retention proposal and the Volcker Rule release — is not the answer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking students, colleges and lenders for information on the private student loan market that will inform a joint report to Congress required by the Dodd-Frank Act.