Law and regulation

Now the question is: will online portals become a significant source of financing for U.S. small businesses, or will red tape get in the way?

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board will consider a proposal Friday requiring the largest and most systemically risky banks to hold additional capital and unsecured debt to absorb losses in a failure scenario.

The administration apparently intends to leave office without addressing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's capital bases and therefore the tight credit conditions.

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.

Antonio Weiss, a counselor to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, called Thursday for greater transparency in the pricing of online small-business loans.

The report from independent auditors will likely show that FHA remains below its 2% statutory minimum capital ratio, but HUD officials and outside observers still expect it to show major improvement over last year.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing a California company accused of running a student financial aid placement scam.

WASHINGTON — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig was elected as president of the International Association of Deposit Insurers on Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined two large employee background screening companies a total of$13 million for creating inaccurate reports.

Republican presidential candidates managed to get in several barbs over banking policy during the party's primary debate on Wednesday night, largely aimed at the Federal Reserve and government more broadly.

A federal judge has ordered Corinthian Colleges to pay more than $531 million on charges brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the for-profit college used illegal tactics to collect on student loan debt.

Citigroup isn't the poster-child for "too big to fail" anymore, Chief Executive Michael Corbat claimed Wednesday, arguing the bank had scaled back and learned from its mistakes leading up to the financial crisis.

A major investor in insurance giant American International Group is calling on the company to break itself up into three companies to get out from under its designation as one of only four systemically risky nonbanks.

Executives at small banks and credit unions told the Senate Banking Committee about horror stories of technical glitches, vendor delays and overworked appraisers, while expressing an interest in having more time to comply with new mortgage rules.

The banking industry largely praised the passage of a major Senate cybersecurity bill Tuesday night, but concerns are mounting about the inclusion of eleventh-hour language that could prompt new rules for financial institutions.

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a $50 million fine and accepted a three-year ban on some advisory work in New York as part of a settlement with the state's financial regulator over the leak of Federal Reserve documents.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the founder of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, appeared alongside Director Richard Cordray on Wednesday during a rare joint appearance to discuss politics, financial products, and breaking up the big banks.

The Senate approved a key cybersecurity bill Tuesday after several days of debate on the chamber floor — and several years of lobbying by business groups, including bankers.

Sure, the U.S. government recently handed down strong new rules designed to protect consumers from unwanted robo-calls. But maybe some robo-calls aren't so bad. Like debt-collection calls in cases where the debt happens to be backed by Uncle Sam.

Department of Housing and Urban Development staff are working on a revision to the agency's condo rule and "we anticipate a rulemaking process," the HUD Secretary Julian Castro said this week.