Law and regulation

Debit cardholders initiate an average of nearly 30 debit transactions a month for the top issuers, but the rate of activity can vary wildly — with those top issuers seeing about twice as many transactions as those without strong debit business.

Lending Club and Funding Circle are among the firms pledging to adhere to a range of self-imposed standards in small-business lending.

The New York Bankers Association is challenging the legality of a local law that is designed to cajole banks into making larger investments in poorer communities. The outcome could be an important precedent in relation to similar laws in other cities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has named Stephen Warren chief information officer.

SunTrust Banks participated in a drug sting in South Florida in which law enforcement officers and a former bank branch manager may have behaved improperly, according to a story in the Miami Herald.

Banks are strongly condemning the Department of Education's proposed changes to its student loan disbursement rules, saying that the proposal is an attempt to regulate banks in a way that exceeds the department's statutory authority and hurts students.

M&T Bank said it's in discussions with U.S. officials to settle an investigation into the lender's origination and sale of federally insured home loans.

Former Wilmington Trust President Robert V.A. Harra was indicted on U.S. charges that he lied to regulators as part of a scheme to hide bad real-estate loans

The Federal Reserve should require community groups to disclose the contributions they receive from banks in order to ensure that controversial mergers receive fair public hearings.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ramped up its push for the mortgage industry to switch to an electronic closing process after results from a pilot program showed consumers favored it over in-person mortgage closing.

Capital One Financial in McLean, Va., has been hit with an enforcement action by federal regulators for deficiencies in anti-money laundering compliance that were connected to a former check-cashing business.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency named senior bank examiner Linda Cunningham as its first chief risk officer on Wednesday.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit employers from requiring job applicants to supply their credit histories.

The costs incurred by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in renovating its offices were in line with similar projects taken on by other agencies and not extravagant, according to the agency's inspector general.

The central bank appears to believe the U.S. economy remains so fragile that it cannot withstand the mildest of rate increases. There's no better testament to the inefficiency of the Fed's monetary policies.

H&R Block said it received regulatory approval to sell its bank unit to BofI Federal Bank and expects to exit Federal Reserve oversight.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig on Tuesday reiterated his plan for banks that stick to "traditional" banking models and maintain high capital ratios to receive eased regulatory requirements, but added an extra incentive to the mix.

NCR Corp. said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't intend to recommend enforcement action against the company over 2012 allegations of foreign business violations.

Disclosure of confidential client information by the lead counsel for a group of merchants "fatally tainted" a 2013 settlement with American Express, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, auguring poorly for a similar settlement with Visa and MasterCard.

The first stress tests for regional banks show loan losses closely in line with the postcrisis period. However, an independent analysis suggests losses likely would be even higher.