Law and regulation

Federal officials on Thursday ordered Hudson City Savings Bank to pay more than $27 million to resolve redlining allegations, the largest order of its kind and one that is likely to put larger banks on notice that redlining cases will be aggressively pursued.

American banks long ago deserted their most impoverished communities. Today, post offices are uniquely well positioned to serve the underbanked population — and perhaps reinvigorate a culture of saving in the process.

The National Association of Convenience Stores’ latest column on debit-card interchange fees is the most recent in the organization’s years-long effort to obtain government-mandated price controls. But such controls would only increase large retailers’ profits.

A task force convened by the Federal Reserve has made substantial progress in its first few months, but the path to real-time payment in the U.S. is still littered with challenges.

GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush unveiled a plan to reform the regulatory process, including at agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Federal Reserve Board has approved enhancements to its automated clearing house service that will require its banks to process same-day payments.

The Senate passed a bill this week by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., designed to improve transparency around major corporate settlements.

The only way to evaluate the appropriateness of Dodd-Frank's costs is to monitor the economic benefits that it creates. That's why the government needs to find a quantifiable way to measure the efficiency of its regulations.

It's time for the Fed to stop giving deference to the banking industry and correct the industry's swipe fee increases on small-ticket transactions.

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan gets to keep his chairman's title but still faces a major capital plan deadline in just a week and then will have to sort through the fallout from what has been a challenging third quarter for the entire industry.

Although new HMDA data shows no negative effects from CFPB mortgage rules that went into effect last year, industry representatives argue it isn't showing the full picture.

Circle Internet Financial, the Bitcoin services company and wallet provider, has become the first company to receive a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

New York's regulation of Bitcoin businesses is "still not perfect," a Circle Internet Financial executive says, but it didn't want to pull its services from the state as some have.

While Congress has been unable to pass housing finance reform, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have done a good job of adhering to some of the spirit of recent bipartisan legislation, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

WASHINGTON — The number of mortgage originations dropped 31% to 6 million in 2014 due largely to a decline in refinancing as interest rates increased, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Contrary to the CFPB’s paternalistic claims, most payday loan borrowers are aware that it may take them more than two weeks to repay the credit they take out.

Kelly Cochran has vetted every rule that comes out of the agency, making her one of the most influential people in the financial services industry.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general has cleared a senior attorney for the agency who had been accused of giving false testimony to lawmakers over the agency's role in "Operation Choke Point."

Despite pledges last year to move "aggressively" to implement new credit scoring models at the government-sponsored enterprises, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's effort appears to have stalled.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule Monday that will make it easier for some community banks to make qualified mortgages.