Law and regulation

I'm hoping William Dudley would consider a meander down the street to Zuccotti Park, with the Fed's consent order against Goldman Sachs in hand. Let the crowd know that the Fed not only shares your pain, but has a few analgesics that might make you feel a bit better.

Ocwen Financial Corp., which this week agreed to buy Morgan Stanley's Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., isn't planning on stopping its shopping spree anytime soon.

Both the chief executive officer and the chairman of the board of Freddie Mac are stepping down within the next few months, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday.

As hundreds of national banks disappear and community banks increasingly chose a state charter, policymakers must consider the impacts.

The Obama Administration, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education, unveiled initiatives this week aimed at bringing transparency to the student lending market and making repayment easier for recent college graduates.

A top political prognosticator said the Occupy Wall Street crowd has a long way to go before they evolve into a political movement on par with the Tea Party.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has ordered West Coast Bank in Lake Oswego, Ore., to improve oversight of its overdraft program and reimburse customers who incurred overdraft fees last year using their debit or ATM cards.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., said Wednesday that it had received approval from the Treasury Department to redeem $193 million in preferred stock issued in December 2008 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The bureau has teamed up with the Department of Education on a financial aid shopping sheet that would help students compare offers from different schools, distinguish between scholarships and loans, and estimate their monthly debt payments after graduation.

Acting FDIC Chairman Marty Gruenberg reiterated his agency's support for small banks, but many bankers are unsure if it will lead to real change.

The huge debt of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, other government-sponsored enterprises and Ginnie Mae fully relies on the credit of the United States. It is in fact government debt, but it is not accounted for as government debt. It is not "considered officially to be part of the total debt of the federal government," the Federal Reserve coyly notes.

Bank executives, audit committees and shareholders risk additional scrutiny and unwelcome publicity under the best-case scenario – and audit failures under the worst case – if their auditor picks a fight with the PCAOB.

New fees from big banks are raising the questions of whether they will lead to an exodus of customers or if the cost of moving institutions is just too high. American Banker's Kevin Wack set out to answer that question by switching banks himself.

A flood of overdraft cases has streamed into the Miami courtroom of U.S. District Judge Lawrence King over the past two years, but a recent ruling by panel of federal judges may have turned off the spigot.

Regulations to implement the Volcker Rule have hit the street. Now a new phase of the battle to reign-in proprietary trading by banks is at hand. If past is prologue, a tough and divisive battle looms. Meanwhile, the industry, regulators and customers will be dealing with the uncertainty that has bedeviled all concerned since Dodd-Frank was enacted.

Bankers spoke openly about their frustration with new regulations during the ABA's annual conference, with one likening it to being repeatedly punched in the head.

Reforms to Harp will remove several barriers that kept underwater homeowners from refinancing their mortgages, but analysts disagree on what kind of effect that will have on the housing market and the economy.

Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who chairs the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, plans to unveil a comprehensive bill to reform the secondary mortgage market on Thursday.

"Stay tuned." Those were the words Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used on CNBC last week to apprise an angry public that more bank bashing is yet to come.

Fred Joseph, Colorado's banking commissioner, said Community Banks of Colorado should have been able to sell its branches in a bid for more time to resolve its problems. But the FDIC and the Fed overruled him — and then failed the bank.