Law and regulation

More than half of real estate agents are planning to extend their sales contracts to provide more time for the closing processing due to the coming implementation of new mortgage disclosures.

Symphony, the instant messaging service supported by fifteen large banks, says it will be ready to roll on Sept. 15 despite the objections of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and regulators who fear its encryption technology will impede supervision.

A measure that would substantially cut the Federal Reserve's dividend payment to member banks is likely to prove difficult to remove from a Senate highway funding bill even though it has few public backers and many critics.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has lifted its operating agreement with the banking unit of Capital Bank Financial in Coral Gables, Fla.

A new study by the Richmond Fed confirms that swipe fees have only gone down for a small fraction of merchants, contrary to congressional intent. This finding should spur the central bank to limit price-fixing to a reasonable level.

M&T Bank has agreed to pay $485,000 and change its lending policies to settle a lawsuit that accused the Buffalo, N.Y., company of racial discrimination in making mortgage loans.

In the digital age, financial data is both a commercial tool and a means of detecting criminal activity. This leaves multinational financial institution issuers, especially those that operate in both the United States and the European Union, at risk for fines and litigation.

A new battle is brewing between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the government-sponsored enterprises set out to boost their purchases of low down payment loans.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is calling for stricter regulation of marketplace lending.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton championed a bill on Monday to reduce the so-called "revolving door" for workers moving between the financial industry and government.

K2 Intelligence, an adviser on compliance and cybersecurity, has hired a former FBI cryptocurrency expert and a former regulator who worked on New York's digital currency regulations.

As marketing services agreements disappear under pressure from regulators, loan officers will have to compete based on skill and customer service to win referral business.

It’s time for the mortgage industry to take a lesson from the presidential hopefuls who have gained an upper hand by playing up their individual brands.

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As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finishes regulations dealing with mortgage data reporting, a similar set of requirements for small business loans is waiting in the wings.

A foreign bank that sued the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network won a preliminary injunction suspending an action that would have cut off the bank's access to dollar funding.

Banks need more clarity about the circumstances under which attorney-client privilege applies. Otherwise they may decline to ask questions about the legality of their actions, leading to even more compliance problems.

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 from our social media platforms.

Nearly seven years after the financial crisis, the uncomfortable truth for the banking industry is that populist anger remains alive and well.

The contradictory nature of data privacy and anti-money-laundering rules in the U.S. and E.U. pose a big challenge for multinational banks. But the financial sector can help fix the problem by establishing industry standards that balance national security with individual rights.