Law and regulation

The casino industry is turning a corner, but the long-term impact of the so-called Durbin amendment on Global Cash Access Holdings Inc.’s revenues remains unclear, executives from the company told analysts during a Nov. 9 conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.

Federal regulators have ordered 14 mortgage services to help borrowers that were harmed by foreclosure errors, but left it up to them to develop common remediation guidelines. The servicers and their consultants met in Washington this week to try and reach a consensus.

Banks should adhere to high moral standards by discouraging people from going needlessly into debt. The concept of "fly now, pay later" does not promote consumers’ financial responsibility.

The Volcker Rule, enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, has lately received a lot of adverse commentary. The complexity of the draft implementing regulation, and the clear indication in the regulators' accompanying questions that they did not know how to make the rule work, has produced a new round of criticism. But that’s only one of the problems this rule creates, and a relatively minor one.

Sandra Fisher Martins will brook no lawyerly explanations for impenetrable, convoluted writing. People have a “right to understand,” she says in a recently posted TED video.

The request by Sen. Tim Johnson serves as a rejoinder to Republicans who have been decrying the costs of new financial regulations.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has reintroduced legislation that would allow states to cap the interest rates on credit cards used by their residents.

A group of U.S. senators on Nov. 9 introduced legislation that would allow states to cap credit card interest rates, which they say are riding at “extortion” rates for some consumers.

Overdraft elephants are hiding in plain sight in bank and credit union boardrooms. No one admits seeing them. No one talks about them. The less said the better.

Sen. Richard Shelby on Wednesday called for the Senate to pass a bill that would exempt more small banks from securities registration requirements.

A bipartisan group of Senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to create a covered bond market in the U.S. similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J.

Policymakers who stood by and watched the mortgage bubble inflate, and then explode, ought to pay attention to what's happening in the student loan market. The parallels may not be precise, but they are pretty darn scary.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the Internal Revenue Service made a mistake related to $253 million in disputed tax refunds that are at the center of a legal fight between the bank regulator and the bankruptcy estate of Colonial BancGroup Inc.

Sen. Carl Levin, one of the legislative architects of the Volcker Rule, took sharp issue Wednesday with how regulators are proposing to implement the measure.

It's a sign of the dismal state of the housing market that a combined $14 billion bailout in the third quarter for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac no longer merits front-page headlines.

It may take some time for the full effect of a new interchange-rate cap to affect consumer and merchant behavior, but PIN-debit network executives anticipate a positive outcome for their operations.

Nelson, Hirsch & Associates, a Fairburn, Ga.-based collection agency, reached a $4.3 million settlement with state regulators on several charges of engaging in unfair business practices - including threatening consumers with arrest if they did not pay.

The operator of a Web site billed as a “Facebook and Myspace for Kids” agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated the FTC's Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule by collecting personal information from 5,600 children without obtaining prior parental consent.

There's bad news for those who withdrew funds on Bank Transfer Day to punish the targets of their ire. Most banks don't really need their money — at least not right now.

Indonesia’s central bank plans to place stricter limits on credit card issuance to reduce rising consumer card debt in the country.