Law and regulation

The FDIC and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will soon finalize one of the more significant requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act — the mandate for large banking organizations and systemically important nonbank financial institutions to prepare resolution plans, more commonly known as "living wills."

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $88.3 million to settle charges related to apparent violations of economic sanctions dating back to 2005.

On Thursday, the Fed published written agreements struck earlier this month with the $119 million-asset Texas Bancshares Inc. in Snyder, Texas, and the $169 million-asset Flagship Financial Group Inc. in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment in Bank of America Corp. may boost investor confidence short-term, but over the long haul it will fatten Berkshire's wallet while worsening the bank's troubles.

Broker-dealers don't have to track every message sent through social media — only the ones that relate to business purposes. And unscripted interactions? They can be reported after they occur.

Charles Taylor, the OCC's new deputy head of capital policy, comes from the Pew Project on Financial Reform, which has pushed for interventionist regulation of the sort the agency usually opposes.

The debit card likely will not go the way of the paper check, its role is rapidly transforming, and its days as a single-purpose product are looking increasingly numbered.

Ag banks and superregionals will be on the rise, many community banks and branches will have disappeared, and three mini-financial crises will have occurred, a roundtable of experts said when asked to predict banking in 2036.

The industry's criticism of the agency does not apply when it comes to nonbank supervision.

Small banks continued to withdraw credit from small businesses in the second quarter, but data indicates that large banks opened up the spigot on small business credit cards.

Global custodians have spent decades using bundled fees to mask egregious conflicts of interest and overcharge pension funds, and by extension the taxpayers and public servants who underwrite them.

Andrew Kahr's excellent discussion of how "Systemic Risk Is About Assets, Not Size" rightly focuses on bubble-inflating movements in the aggregate balance sheet of the financial sector. We should expand on three of his insightful points:

It seems everyone in community banking knows the model needs to evolve, but few have any great ideas on how to do it. One thing does seem certain: standing still is not an option.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was removed from a leadership role in negotiating a nationwide foreclosure settlement with U.S. banks because his office "actively worked to undermine" the effort, a state official said.

P.D. Recovery, a now-defunct collection agency, and Internet payday lender Government Employees Credit Center reached a settlement with West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office.

Underlyling the FDIC's relatively positive quarterly report is a story of risk aversion by banks. Earnings can't be sustained at this rate, regulators warn.

Most banking agencies kept running on Tuesday after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake rattled Washington, but let some employees go home. There were no immediate reports of damage to any of the buildings.

The FDIC charged executives of the failed Silverton Bank with squandering millions on planes, posh digs, and island retreats.

It is now close to three weeks since Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on U.S. debt from AAA to AA+ and we now have had sufficient time to evaluate both the downgrade and the aftermath.

Debt Relief USA Inc. has agreed to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that it lured consumers into paying thousands of dollars in upfront fees to reduce their credit card debt - but in many bases left them deeper in debt.