Law and regulation

The decision blocking the Financial Stability Oversight Council's designation of MetLife was presaged in factual and legal arguments made by trade associations and others for more than five years.

Regulators struck down the living wills of five of the eight megabanks under evaluation, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, requiring them to submit fixes to their resolution plans by Oct. 1 or face more stringent regulatory requirements.

WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill Tuesday that would create a new bankruptcy system for large financial institutions.

The Federal Reserve Board and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are set to give at least four megabanks a "harsh verdict" on their living wills, including JPMorgan Chase, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal, which cited "people familiar with the matter."

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. should rethink the review process for big banks' resolution plans, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Tuesday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau named six people to top staff positions Tuesday, including the head of a new office for small-business lending.

Quicken Loans plans to appeal a recent federal labor ruling that the Detroit lender and other companies owned by Dan Gilbert violated employees' rights.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released Tuesday its first risk appetite statement — a set of general guidelines on what level of risk the agency finds acceptable in various domains.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faced hostile questions from two judges during oral arguments before a federal appeals court Tuesday as it sought to argue the constitutionality of its single-director structure in a lawsuit brought by the nonbank mortgage lender PHH Corp.

Data breaches have become scarily commonplace. But even small financial institutions can take action to thwart hackers and minimize losses.

The impending Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal will limit access to payday lending but it will not enable small-dollar lending alternatives for consumers.

The U.K. Government is ramping up its efforts in supporting the country’s fintech industry, announcing Monday initiatives to create a fintech strategy unit and information hub for startups.

Regulators have yet to provide feedback on last year's living-will resolution plans, but for foreign banks with significant operations in the U.S., those assessments are too late. Such institutions are required to put in place an entirely different business model by July of this year.

A former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. employee took off with data on some 44,000 customers of closed banks when she left the agency in late February, according to an agency memo uncovered by The Washington Post.

The latest version of a new accounting standard for calculating loan-loss reserves would ease the burden on small banks, ICBA officials say. However, the ABA says it still fails to eliminate the biggest problem — asking lenders to predict the future.

A former aide to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has broken ranks with his former employer and issued a blueprint for a sweeping reform of the U.S. central bank, including regular government audits and shorter term limits for policy makers.

Congress should consider giving direct authority over nonbank mortgage servicers to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office. The report said there should be "parity" among financial regulators in the oversight of regulated entities and third parties they do business with.

Goldman Sachs will pay $5.1 billion to settle a U.S. probe into its handling of mortgage-backed securities involving allegations that loans weren't properly vetted before being sold to investors as high-quality bonds.

Several years after regulators began developing the "net stable funding ratio," there is good reason to ask if its utility has been eclipsed by other liquidity-related rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's agenda is so packed it's no wonder that when Director Richard Cordray testifies on Capitol Hill, he has to tackle a huge array of subjects. Following are areas where the agency has proposals or final rules outstanding: