Law and regulation

Congress should abandon the idea of repealing a section of the Dodd-Frank Act that has helped make pricing for payment processing more competitive.

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced Wednesday his intention to nominate John Herrera, who serves on the board of one credit union and works for another, to fill the vacancy on the National Credit Union Administration's board.

The investigation into the lack of new bank charter applications has turned into a proxy battle over the Dodd-Frank Act, with Republicans and many industry players pointing a finger at the 2010 law.

The companies agreed to divest the branches, along with nearly $738 million in deposits, to secure Justice Department approval.

Lawmakers investigating a slate of cybersecurity breaches at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have accused agency staff of purposefully muddying the waters in an effort to evade Congressional scrutiny.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers put Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro on the hot seat Wednesday, criticizing his decision to allow nonprofit community groups to bid on more nonperforming Federal Housing Administration loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and director Richard Cordray defeated a legal challenge to actions taken by the agency while he was a 2012 recess appointee of President Obama.

Online marketplace lenders found themselves in the congressional crosshairs Tuesday just as some lawmakers are attempting to provide the industry with sought-after reforms.

The debate over Rep. Jeb Hensarling's bill to overhaul the Dodd-Frank Act is increasingly focusing on widely different philosophies about capital regulation.

WASHINGTON — The head of the American Bankers Association on Tuesday defended financial institutions' partnerships with fintech firms but argued that banks top nonbank startups in serving as "trusted custodians" for their customers' funds.

As policymakers try to calibrate the appropriate level of regulatory oversight still six years after Dodd-Frank, financial institutions large and small must stay engaged in key policy debates.

The combination of smarter consumers and likely CFPB action have, oddly enough, pushed banks, especially large ones, to raise overdraft fees in recent months.

Offering a new product or considering a merger may boost returns, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says changes in strategy can be risky.

While diversity at the federal agencies overall is roughly consistent with the rest of the country, diversity declines sharply among those in senior leadership roles.

Expect banks to pull back on energy lending in the near term, as regulators step up their scrutiny of oil loans and bankers approach the business with a "different attitude," says Mariner Kemper, chairman and chief executive at UMB Financial in Kansas City, Mo.

Its watchdog said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed to implement measures that could have prevented at least eight cybersecurity breaches from departing employees over the last year.

WASHINGTON — The House approved a spending bill Thursday that would change the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and take away the Financial Stability Oversight Council's power to designate nonbanks as systemically important.

Big banks were seen as winners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but their support for the pact is in question as a result of their treatment in a data-related provision.

U.S. regulators plan to require banks to adopt baseline safeguards to shield themselves from cyberthreats after a series of assaults cost the industry billions of dollars and shook consumer confidence.

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