Law and regulation

The Federal Reserve is holding public hearings in three cities across the country to review Capital One's proposed purchase of ING Direct. The hearings to be held in San Francisco are half a continent away from the nearest branches of what may become America's fifth largest bank. Without branches, the bank's responsibility to California cities and counties is not clear under regulators' current interpretation of the federal Community Reinvestment Act.

Robert G. Wilmers, the head of M&T Bank, came to the nation's capital Monday with an unfavorable assessment of whether the Dodd-Frank Act will do what lawmakers intended.

The Labor Department is delaying a rule designed to make investment advisors more accountable for the advice they give to employers and individuals in retirement plans, Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi said in a conference call Monday.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Republicans were deliberately trying to prevent credible nominees from being confirmed to regulatory posts, and their legislative attempts to reform the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seem like moves meant to impede the bureau's progress.

OCC head tells American Banker regulatory symposium that banks could face restitution after complaint reviews. Gruenberg, meanwhile, announces FDIC community-bank initiatives.

As the FDIC files more lawsuits against former directors of failed banks, a common theme has emerged from the defendants’ legal arguments: the FDIC is to blame for the failures. Industry observers are divided as to whether the defense will hold water in court.

Major U.S. banks plan to launch a common website, toll-free phone number and advertising campaign in the coming weeks to solicit complaints from consumers harmed by problems in foreclosure processing, a top regulator said Monday.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are gradually increasing the guarantee fees they collect from lenders, and may discontinue the volume discounts they give large banks, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Ed DeMarco said on Monday.

The White House proposed Monday to "modestly" increase the fees that mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge mortgage lenders as a way to reduce the U.S. mortgage system's dependence on government support.

Denying the application would ice large banks, spook foreign owners and deprive the central bank of a key consolidation tool.

Regulators, mortgage insurers, and plaintiffs' attorneys all failed to stop a decade-long pay-to-play scheme in captive mortgage reinsurance alleged by HUD's inspector general. But the short-term profits the deals produced may have cost banks a great deal in the long run.

Life insurance agents are concerned about a proposed change emanating from Dodd-Frank.

On September 12 the U.K.'s Independent Commission on Banking released its much-anticipated final report, also known as the "Vickers report" after chairman Sir John Vickers.

The government faces significant obstacles in enacting a plan to turn government-controlled foreclosure properties into rental housing, including the exact goals of such a program and its structure.

"We should not be penalized because we were not on the favored list of institutions that were deemed 'too-big-to-fail,' " Mike Perry says in a public campaign rarely seen from an executive of a failed bank.

Citigroup Inc. is raising the fees it charges customers for its basic checking accounts to $10 per month, and it will no longer give them rewards for using its debit cards, in the wake of new regulations capping debit interchange fees.

PHILADELPHIA — In his first speech since taking over for Elizabeth Warren as the public face of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Raj Date warned that the agency will take a firm stance when it identifies practices that are harmful for consumers.

Global accounting firms have not been drawing lines between audit services and everything else all that strictly.

U.S. regulators are examining whether the nation's home lenders have accurately valued $845 billion of home equity and other second-lien mortgages, according to seven people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The residential mortgage market has been plagued by uncertainty as the industry waits for guidance on risk retention, new disclosure requirements, and some kind of resolution of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.