Law and regulation

Hong Kong's securities regulator Monday criticized and fined a Citigroup Inc. unit HK$6 million (US$770,394) for missing a "Ponzi scheme operating under its nose," and then later failing to report it to the Securities and Futures Commission in a timely fashion.

Citigroup, which last week touted its promise not to charge customers for using their debit cards, is telling some checking customers that it will start charging them $15 per month unless they maintain a balance of at least $6,000.

A U.S. district court has halted an operation that allegedly subjected consumers to abusive collection practices and deceived the small-business clients for whom it collects.

Kevin MacMillan has moved from the government-relations shop at Bank of America Corp. to that of U.S. Bancorp.

We already know of one presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is a steadfast critic of the Federal Reserve System. But did you know that another used to be a central banker himself?

WASHINGTON — First International Bank in Plano, Texas, became the year's 74th failed institution late Friday.

Consumers could save upwards of $63 billion a year if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac participate in a workable refinancing program for underwater borrowers, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Efforts to negotiate a settlement between state attorneys general and the top five mortgage servicers collapsed Friday after California pulled out the negotiations.

B. Riley & Co. analyst Rich Eckert thinks the government "should get out of the way" of the housing market, and discussing the potential effects of mortgage refinancing programs.

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris pulled out Friday of state and U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the government's investigation of alleged foreclosure abuses, calling the proposed settlement "inadequate for California homeowners."

A Virginia mortgage lender has agreed to pay $140,000 in compensation and revise its pricing policies to settle a lawsuit alleging that it discriminated against minority borrowers, the Justice Department said Friday.

The HUD inspector general wants the Federal Housing Administration to ban corporate officers from the FHA program if they have left a company that has not met its obligations to indemnify the government for delinquent loans.

Last week, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced plans to oversee how each country implements the new capital standards. But such a step may signal problems before the final rules are even adopted.

The Federal Reserve Board's controversial decision to rejigger its securities portfolio was right given the economy's weak outlook and the likely slowdown in consumer price inflation in 2012, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland says.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected to vote next week on the nomination of Richard Corday to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Securities and Exchange Commission inspectors said a large credit rating firm "appeared to allow" for a pending rating decision to be disclosed to certain people before the action was publicly announced.

Once slated for liquidation, Corus Bankshares Inc. received court approval for its bankruptcy exit plan that calls for the former Illinois bank holding company to emerge as a real estate investment firm.

Codorus Valley Bancorp in York, Pa., repurchased a warrant to buy more than 260,000 it issued to the Treasury Department in 2009 as part of its participation in the Trouble Asset Relief Program.

Bond investors are turning against Ally Financial Inc., the auto and home lender majority-owned by the U.S. government, as mounting mortgage liabilities threaten its turnaround plan.

Japan's Financial Services Agency is nearing completion of an investigation into the local arm of U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc. on suspicion of lax compliance, with questions remaining over anti-money laundering controls, and will likely issue sanctions as early as next month, people familiar with the matter said Friday.