Law and regulation

The former officers and directors for Midwest Bank & Trust have reached a $26.5 million settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over charges of negligence during the financial crisis.

The Indiana Senate race could prove to be the most important congressional race for bank policymaking if handshake deals propel former Sen. Evan Bayh to the top of the banking committee. But picking Bayh could start a civil war within the Democratic Party.

Financial regulators issued a long-awaited proposal Friday that would allow institutions with less than $1 billion in assets to file a short-form call report.

The regulatory arm of the Bank of England announced this week that it would exempt excess reserves from its leverage ratio — a move that U.S. banks hope might be a sign of changes to come at the Federal Reserve Board.

Regions Financial, Alabama's biggest bank, reached a preliminary agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve an investigation into mortgage abuses.

Distributed ledgers have the potential to simplify and strengthen bank regulatory oversight when applied in the appropriate context, such as during the Shared National Credit examination program.

The U.S. is steadily building the foundation of a nationwide faster payments system, but not all of the pieces are connected. Many of the elements developed independently, with influence from across the globe.

The solution to "too big to fail" is requiring all creditors, other than insured depositors, to face the risk of loss so that neither the FDIC nor taxpayers lose any money.

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.

Settlements related to court fights over private-label mortgage-backed securities are significantly boosting the bottom lines at a few Federal Home Loan banks.