Law and regulation

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.

JPMorgan Chase is the bank most integral to the stability of the global financial system, followed by HSBC and Citigroup, according to a U.S. study.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a lawsuit in federal court against a web of payday lending companies, alleging that they collected money that consumers did not owe and falsely threatened consumers with lawsuits and imprisonment.

Four Oaks Bank & Trust in Four Oaks, N.C., said its May 2011 enforcement action has been replaced with a more lenient agreement that requires it to address governance issues and other matters.

It's been nearly a century since reformers and lenders agreed on 36% as a small-dollar loan ceiling. Inflation has since swelled production costs, and lending under this cap is no longer profitable. The result: fewer options for consumers.

Many online small-business lenders worry that future regulations could stymie innovation in this fast-growing industry. But well-designed requirements would simply ensure that online lenders can offer adequate borrower protections without giving up market share.

Promontory Financial trades on its ability to deal with regulators, so being banned by New York's top financial regulator is a serious problem. A potentially messy court fight may be the only way to protect its cachet.

Banks are seeing stronger consumer demand for credit for a range of products, including residential mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey of senior loan officers released Monday.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jerome Powell and the top adviser to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that, based on the recent autopsy of the October 15, 2014 spike in Treasury yields, there is reason to believe that high-frequency or algorithmic trading may elevate the risk of similar events in the future

The past two weeks have dashed hopes by bankers that the New York Department of Financial Services might take a different approach after the departure of Benjamin Lawsky as its superintendent. In taking actions against Promontory Financial Group and launching a probe into a bank-run instant messaging service, the agency appears poised to carry on Lawsky's legacy.

A high percentage of loans to oil and gas firms are large and syndicated. As a result, more shared loans are becoming problematic for participating lenders.

The CFPB's long-term reputation — and perhaps Dodd-Frank's overall success — may well be judged on whether the bureau moves beyond areas where it was specifically instructed to take action and exercises broader authority granted to it by Congress.