Law and regulation

A compliance-at-all-costs mentality, which is the overarching attitude in many banks, results in overspending and overallocating valuable resources to meet both real and perceived compliance standards.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

An independent chairman could uncover or minimize damage from fraud while also meting out punishment more impartially after the fact. The longtime corporate governance argument has new legs in light of the account scam at Wells Fargo, whose board is led by CEO John Stumpf.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are not moving fast enough on fintech, prompting Rep. Patrick McHenry to introduce a bill designed to give them a push.

Banks are dumping their mortgage servicing rights because low rates and new rules make it hard to earn a profit. SunTrust, Flagstar and First South Bancorp in North Carolina are taking the opposite view.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Senators sent a letter Thursday to the Department of Labor requesting an investigation into possible labor violations at Wells Fargo related to unpaid overtime and other abuses that came to light after articles by the Los Angeles Times and a regulatory settlement announced two weeks ago.

Despite several attempts over the past two weeks, Wells Fargo has been unable to quell the furor surrounding revelations that thousands of employees opened millions of phony accounts. Here's why.

Other investigations related to Wells Fargo may prevent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from sharing confidential information with House investigators, Director Richard Cordray said Thursday.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said sweeping post-crisis reforms of the U.S. financial system haven't fixed the problem they were designed to tackle and should be scrapped, escalating his long-standing criticism of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

The Wells Fargo scandal is more reason for officials to tighten policy on anti-tying measures to put a stop to overly aggressive sales methods.

Wells Fargo's board was accused of breaching its duty to investors in a lawsuit that also names Carrie Tolstedt, the executive whose community banking unit created unauthorized customer accounts to reap extra fees.

In 2010, lawmakers passed reforms to bring transparency and competition to a swipe fee market that had been devoid of both. Now, they want to undo that progress.

Republican lawmakers are pushing back against claims by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's allies that it rooted out fraud at Wells Fargo, arguing the L.A. City Attorney and the Los Angeles Times brought the situation to light.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen today pushed back against the notion that banks might be "too big to manage", saying that despite concerns raised by the recent scandal at Wells Fargo, there is no inherent reason why large banks cannot meet existing standards of conduct.

It was never going to be a good hearing for Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, but his performance Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee was widely panned. Called to answer for millions of phony accounts being opened, Stumpf didn't know the answers to many of the lawmakers' questions and distanced himself from the board which he chairs. Lawmakers from both parties were highly critical. The following were some of Stumpf's worst moments:

WASHINGTON – For the second time, a federal judge has ruled that the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network must withdraw a rule designed to cut off the Tanzanian bank FBME from the U.S. financial system.

WASHINGTON — A Republican lawmaker is urging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to consider issues related to virtual currency companies as the agency develops a fintech regulatory framework.

John Stumpf may have hoped that Tuesday's hearing on Capitol Hill would mark a key turning point in Wells Fargo's blossoming scandal, but his harsh questioning by lawmakers — and his struggle to answer many of their questions — suggests that the embattled megabank's problems are just beginning.

Policymakers repeatedly said during a Senate Banking hearing Tuesday that Wells' mistakes couldn't be blamed — as the company maintains — just on rogue employees. Instead, they see a cultural problem at the San Francisco bank and wonder whether it extends beyond Wells Fargo.

The rampant unethical behavior at Wells Fargo suggests that bankers' ethics are still fundamentally awry eight years after the mortgage meltdown.