Law and regulation

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.

Many appraisers are charging more or simply refusing to do FHA work, which to their minds now comes close to, if not crossing into, the remit of the home inspector.

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.

Merchants are increasingly frustrated over how the EMV deployment has interfered with their legally guaranteed options for PIN debit transaction routing and authorization — and since the government gave merchants this right, the Merchant Advisory Group is appealing to the government to take a look at how things have played out.

The CFPB alleges that David Eghbali, a loan officer for a Wells Fargo branch in Beverly Hills, Calif., developed a scheme to manipulate escrow fees in order to close more mortgages and boost his bonus. Eghbali says he was forced to sign a settlement because he couldn't afford to fight the CFPB in court.

The Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General is not backing down on his concerns about premium pricing associated with the down payment assistance programs by the Federal Housing Administration.

Academics are challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's study of auto title loans, calling the findings inconsistent with state data. The study found that one in five borrowers who take out a short-term auto title loan end up having their vehicle repossessed. Some states report vehicle repossessions rates of between 6% and 11%.

The Justice Department's effort to hold individual executives accountable for corporate wrongdoing could backfire by posing conflicts that discourage cooperation from companies, the country's biggest business lobby warned.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Thursday sentenced former Voyager Bank Chief Executive Timothy Owens to 18 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to obstructing a Federal Reserve examination of his institution.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is set to release its Quarterly Banking Profile for the first quarter of this year on June 1.

Recent legislative proposals to make piecemeal changes to the government-sponsored enterprises could set broader GSE reform on the wrong path.

Smartphones are an important window into understanding underbanked customers, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a report released Wednesday in conjunction with a meeting of the agency's advisory committee on economic inclusion.

Regulators appear to have made the right call in failing most of the largest banks' living wills, but it's hard to tell given the dearth of publicly available information, a new government report suggests.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is telling lenders that down payment assistance programs still qualify for FHA backing despite concerns raised last year by HUD's inspector general.

A report by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors found that consolidated companies with money transmitter licenses fell more than 10% from 518 in the first quarter of 2015, to 456 this year.

As a top Republican lawmaker nears the release of a plan aimed at rolling back and replacing the Dodd-Frank Act, bankers are being cautious about offering any support, fearing it may open the door to changes they oppose.