Law and regulation

WASHINGTON – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that its board will meet Thursday to discuss a plan to increase the required ratio of federal reserves to insured deposits.

General Electric plans to ask early next year for relief from heightened regulatory scrutiny, while its former credit card arm says that it won't be subject to the same stress-testing rules as most banks its size.

Bankers are increasingly concerned that an optional cybersecurity assessment tool released by regulators this summer could soon become mandatory.

The argument that a Republican CFPB director could wreak havoc on what the agency has already accomplished just doesn't hold water.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has promoted Shonda Clay to executive vice president and product manager, a role in which she will also support the Fed's faster payments initiative.

The changes made 10 years ago reduced abusive bankruptcies and made our nation's economy more resilient. If Congress had gone further by regulating attorney fees and increasing penalties for fraud, the economy would be that much stronger.

The reform has returned bankruptcy to its intended function as a last resort for consumers, rather than a way for the wealthy to game the system at everyone else's expense.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau backed off some of its initial plans in its final rule requiring lenders to collect more data from mortgage borrowers, but industry representatives warned the agency had not gone far enough.

New York's state banking regulator may have set down rigorous guidelines for the Symphony online messaging service. But will the rules actually work, and will other agencies will adopt similar guidance?

The bureau's proposed standards would drive lenders out of short-term, small-dollar lending, just as the OCC's 2013 rules did. This time, however, there will be few, if any, regulated institutions left to fill the void.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule Thursday that requires lenders to collect more information from borrowers as part of mortgage disclosures.

Executives in the mortgage industry must "take a page from the real estate community" and be more active in Washington and their state capitals, said outgoing Mortgage Bankers Association Chairman Bill Cosgrove.

Synchrony Financial has received regulatory approval for moves that will let the credit card lender cut ties with its longtime parent, General Electric.

WASHINGTON — Bank lending is growing mildly, buoyed by strong consumer spending and an improving real estate market, while lending related to other areas of the economy have stagnated or contracted, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising red flags about the servicing of old federal student loans that were once originated by private lenders.

Democrats clashed over banking reform Tuesday night during the party's first primary debate, underscoring the sharp divide with GOP candidates on Wall Street issues.

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the "Durbin amendment," a defective law directing the Federal Reserve to impose price-controls on debit interchange fees.

The Democratic presidential candidates sparred over Wall Street reform Tuesday evening, debating how to best tame the banking industry roughly seven years after the financial crisis.

Since the G20 agreed in 2009 to route most over-the-counter derivatives through central counterparties, or CCPs, regulators have been increasingly concerned that those centers could pose a catastrophic risk to financial stability if they fail. But a years-long standoff between the U.S. and Europe is delaying efforts to deal with the risks they pose.

New York state's banking regulator reached an agreement with Société Générale to retain records from an online messaging service and issued guidance for other banks in its jurisdiction that plan to use the messaging service.