Law and regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will unveil sweeping federal regulations Thursday for payday lenders that could open the door for competition from banks, while forcing lenders to move toward longer-term installment loans. Here's what to track when the plan is released.

Allison Aytes, a former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. employee in its Office of Complex Financial Institutions, is under investigation by federal authorities for allegedly stealing big banks' living will data on her last day of employment.

The idea that restricted access to loans for poor-credit borrowers is unequivocally a bad thing is based on industry talking points that don't stand up to real-world scrutiny.

A recent spate of breaches on Asian banks that allowed hackers access to the Swift network have resulted in finger pointing, and some calls for creating a new, more secure network. But the issues faced by Swift would likely be the same with any replacement network.

Carver Bancorp in New York has entered into a formal agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that includes mandates tied to the Bank Secrecy Act and commercial real estate.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal banking agencies should do more to protect consumers with limited English proficiency, a report from Americans for Financial Reform says.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will vote next week on whether to publish a blueprint for capital requirements for insurance firms under its supervision and insurance companies designated as systemically risky.

The Federal Reserve has been conducting annual stress tests on the biggest banks' liquidity since 2012 — tests the banks largely support. But as the Fed advances new liquidity rules, they're starting to question why more rules are necessary.

Banks have rushed to the exits when it comes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt securities. Federal liquidity rules seem to be prompting big banks to do so, but why small banks are unloading the bonds, too, is more of a puzzler.

In addition to credit risk from leveraged loans and other types of assets, an added worry for participations is how they would be treated in a failure of the originating bank.