Law and regulation

Add retail customers to the list of groups raising concerns about possible high-pressure product-sales tactics at Wells Fargo; many of them are considering jumping ship in response, according to a new survey of customer attitudes at big banks. However, Wells' rivals shouldn't celebrate — they are at risk of losing customers, too, for a variety of reasons.

Sage Bank in Lowell, Mass., has agreed to pay about $1.2 million to settle Justice Department allegations of discrimination against minorities in mortgage lending.

WASHINGTON — Community banks are poised to score a big win after details about negotiations over a major highway spending bill emerged Tuesday.

Premara Financial in Charlotte, N.C., has raised $8.5 million in a stock offering and plans to exit the Small Business Lending Fund program.

It is wrong to claim the Federal Reserve's proposal requiring "total loss-absorbing capacity" will perpetuate the "too big to fail" problem. Indeed, it is just the opposite.

Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley became the latest big banks Monday to promise to cut their support for the coal industry in the name of reducing the pollution blamed for global warming.

Despite the House Financial Services Committee's passage of a bill to convert the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's leadership structure from a single director to a commission, Democrats have largely opposed the bill.

Broadway Financial Corp. in Los Angeles has been released from an enforcement action requiring it to improve its corporate governance.

Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, takes issue with American Banker's recent story about errors in the agency's complaint database.

The Federal Reserve Board finalized a regulation that further narrows its ability to provide emergency funds to companies in a crisis.

Congress has a packed agenda this December with major budget and transportation bills in the works that may contain key changes for the banking industry.

With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's disclosure rule potentially slowing down the loan process, institutions need to focus on communication strategies to keep young borrowers at the closing table.

The Senate is the next battleground for legislation requiring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rescind 2013 guidance on indirect auto lending, but the bill may do nothing to slow enforcement efforts.

The Federal Reserve Wednesday finalized certain changes to its stress testing program for 2016, including phasing out certain capital requirements and delaying the implementation of others.

American Express Co., the largest credit-card issuer by purchases, said it will cut 45 jobs in its enterprise growth unit next year as part of a reorganization.

There is no shortage of opinions about payday loans. But the same cannot be said for hard research, which is needed before regulators write new rules for the industry.

Mark Simmons, a seasoned commercial lender, is planning to open a bank in California’s Orange County that is dedicated to making loans to businesses. Core Commercial Bank, expected to be the state’s first de novo since 2008, would jump into a market where commercial lenders are plentiful — and aggressive.

A new Fannie Mae program allowing nonborrower income to count in qualifying homeowners for low-down payment loans received near-universal praise from industry representatives and federal officials at a recent housing symposium here.

A report released by Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee accuses the CFPB of willfully overstepping the law to punish indirect auto lenders for alleged discriminatory practices that, the report says, are fair business.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s third-quarter industry update pointed to signs of banks expanding their risk profiles despite slow revenue growth.