Law and regulation

India’s card issuers are bracing for a change in telecommunication rules that, while fighting mobile spam, prohibits them from sending text message solicitations to some prospective credit card customers.

A Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing next week on speculation in the commodities markets — an issue addressed by provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which regulators are now implementing.

The head of a congressional panel that oversees the Internal Revenue Service says a proposed rule that would require U.S. banks to report interest paid to foreign account holders would discourage foreign investment and place an unnecessary burden on banks.

Credit-default swap dealers often hold on to risk from big trades for longer than many investors thought, which may complicate efforts by regulators to impose new reporting rules in the $28.4 trillion market, according to a Federal Reserve report.

Bankers, directly and through their lobbyists, have been expressing outrage related to the Basel III rules designed to ensure the safety and soundness of the global banking system. A top spokesman at the American Bankers Association, for example, was recently quoted saying that Basel III should be "put on a shelf."

D.C. bureau chief Rob Blackwell on the key takeaways from American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

Citizens First National Bank in Princeton, Ill., has been ordered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to beef up its capital levels and clean up its loan portfolio.

Even when the overseas problem gets fixed, capital rules and other uncertainties will have to be resolved before deals really get rolling.

At its second hearing on the deal, Capital One said its merger with ING's online bank unit was the safest option for the system.

Bankers have reacted well to acting FDIC chief Gruenberg's first speech since taking helm of the agency, but say actions will speak louder than words.

Four Chicago-area companies and attorneys involved in alleged fraudulent mortgage rescue and loan modification schemes have been sued by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office for illegally charging consumers.

Adding to the opposition against National Credit Union Association’s proposal to require financial reporting from credit union service organizations, Credit Union 24 is organizing a letter-writing campaign urging withdrawal of the initiative.

Freddie Mac relied on a botched loan review process for key data used to justify its landmark settlement with Bank of America, the FHFA's inspector general has concluded.

U.S. banks would have to change the way they compensate traders involved in market-making activities under one of the proposed restrictions of the so-called Volcker rule, according to a draft circulating among regulators.

Many financial institutions have eliminated their free checking accounts, and the fees they are charging rose this year, according to new research from Bankrate.com.

CHICAGO—Last week, the PCI Security Standards Council pushed advanced encryption as a way to protect consumers’ card data. But one point-of-sale vendor executive contends authentication at every step of the payments process would work better to combat fraud.

A "don't waste a good financial crisis" moment has arrived. The G-20's Financial Stability Board is set to convene a global workshop on how to create and administer a global identification standard for businesses and their ownership structures involved in the financial supply chain.

While bankers complain about what's already on the books, regulators are moving on to write new "macro-prudential" rules designed to curb systemic risk.

The Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General blames the OTS in nearly of all its recent failed thrift reviews. The OCC, which inherited OTS-regulated thrifts in July, said it will make sure mistakes cited in the reports are not repeated.

Should credit bureaus wipe all blemishes from a consumer's file after three years? Will the Durbin debit rule drive consumers to use cash and checks, or credit cards? Don't expect firm answers from these academics, just intriguing questions.