Law and regulation

Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks.

The insurance giant MetLife dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, saying it would separate a "substantial portion" of its U.S. retail segment, in part because of the current economic and regulatory environment.

MetLife plans to separate much of its U.S. retail business as Chief Executive Officer Steve Kandarian works to shrink the company to limit federal oversight.

Legislation to audit the Federal Reserve's monetary policy fell short of the 60 votes necessary to win a key procedural motion in the Senate on Tuesday.

The agency scrapped a part of its 2014 proposal that would have required Home Loan bank members to maintain a certain percentage of residential mortgage assets in order to keep their membership. But it held fast on a provision that would disqualify captive insurance firms from membership.

Digital and alternative currencies are often cast as libertarian-friendly payment vehicles whose very mission engenders government antagonism. But in Canada, things are a bit friendlier.

Convictions of big banks have lacked any tangible consequences for perpetrators, leaving many still doubting that the government is serious about prosecuting large firms.

Raising capital has been tough for community banks ever since the financial crisis, especially the smallest ones. But a few firms have developed structured products that offer banks a chance to band together to raise needed Tier 1 capital at relatively low cost, while avoiding the regulatory ire that befell trust-preferred securities.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is using outdated methodologies to define "brokered deposits," stigmatizing stable sources of funding and forcing banks to pay higher premiums, according to bankers and several outside groups.

A compilation of our favorite stories of 2015, as selected by the people who assigned and edited them.

The financial industry is fractured over a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plan to require big banks to temporarily pay more in deposit insurance premiums, with small banks lobbying to force bigger payments over a shorter time frame and many large ones wanting to stretch it out.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is giving a handful of community banks a chance to explain why a plan to change the accounting for loan losses will result in major hardship. The proposal would force banks to record a loan-loss provision once a loan is originated, rather than when a loss becomes probable.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A concept that predated bitcoin itself is becoming more than a thought exercise as blockchains explore ways to harness smart contracts for greater uses.

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.

Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines — which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples — and it has responded with a request for further industry input.

U.S regulators' knack for going beyond international standards is prompting industry worries over the cumulative effect of different jurisdictions' capital regimes.

While it searches for a permanent deputy director, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has named David Silberman to serve as its acting No. 2 starting next week.

In theory, Sen. Bernie Sanders' plan to use Section 121 of the Dodd-Frank Act to break up the big banks sounds plausible. In practice, it won't ever happen. Here's why.

After several years of tussling with mortgage rules and their implementation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is focusing on several areas that will primarily affect the nonbank market, including debt collection, payday-type loans and prepaid cards.