Law and regulation

More than a year after the Dodd-Frank Act was supposed to put the issue to rest, the question of whether "too big to fail" still exists is once again consuming the financial services industry.

Yields on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage securities that guide home-loan rates tumbled relative to Treasuries after the Federal Reserve said it will reinvest proceeds from past purchases of housing debt into the bonds.

American Banker editors discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding and structure.

The Fed launched "Operation Twist," agreeing to sell $400 billion in short-term Treasuries in exchange for longer-term holdings by next June to help bolster U.S. economy.

Chief executives of small banks discuss efforts to find new sources of non-interest income and cuts costs at a recent industry conference.

BB&T, which took over Colonial Bank after it was seized by regulators, is now asking one of those authorities, the FDIC, to protect it from a $300 million suit brought by creditors of the Alabama bank's former parent, Colonial BancGroup.

The Treasury Department Wednesday announced a secondary public offering for warrants to purchase shares in SunTrust Banks Inc., one of the financial institutions it bailed out during the financial crisis.

Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Gordon Nixon said Tuesday the uneven regulatory playing field among the world's banks is "a source of frustration."

The specter of "too big to fail," coupled with the usual fuming by community groups over Capital One's CRA record, made for a dramatic nine hours — and counting.

A year after the enactment of Dodd-Frank, debate over the act and other post-crisis reforms is as emotional as ever. Top lawmakers, regulators, bankers and pundits clashed over Dodd-Frank's unfinished rules, unintended consequences and missed opportunities at the American Banker Regulatory Symposium on Sept. 19-20 in Washington. Policymakers pledged to balance consumer interests and economic growth, while bankers complained about capital rules and other regulations that, they said, will tie their hands.

An ideological divide in the party has prevented a resolution to the GSE problem, the West Virginia Republican said. More help will be needed from the White House, too, she said.

The Florida appeals court ruling could make it harder for mortgage servicers to use such records as evidence for foreclosure without verifying the underlying information.

Forget Dodd-Frank. Never mind unemployment. Want to jumpstart lending? Fix the system for classifying loans, Harris Simmons says.

Create a national charter for nonbanks so they don't have to go through banks to offer products to underserved consumers.

Big bank deals will worsen systemic risks and unfair competition, said the ICBA, which called for a moratorium while new regulations are in the works. Capital One argued the deal would create a safer company.

The Massachusetts Democrat said housing advocates' fight against a key reform of Dodd-Frank would hurt the low-income borrowers they are trying to help.

Dodd-Frank failed to cure key structural shortcomings of mortgage servicing that are still harming consumers, says Raj Date, the interim leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

At a community banking panel at this year's American Banker Regulatory Symposium, the consensus held that regulation can't be a one-size-fits-all practice.

Since its inception, banking in America has been subject to regulation and supervision. For the most part, this relationship is symbiotic. At its best, regulation and supervision help prevent bad actors from undermining the reputation of the industry and hurting consumers; elevate good practices; and instill public confidence in the system.

Executives tell symposium audience that Basel committee's surcharge on systemically important firms will impede economic growth.