Law and regulation

Promontory Financial vowed to take the New York Department of Financial Services to court after it effectively banned the consulting firm from working on regulatory issues for banks the department supervises.

Citigroup is being investigated over its student-loan servicing practices in a probe that the bank said echoes an enforcement action against at least one other institution.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including whether independent consultants should be criminally liable for misrepresentations in their reports and whether higher rates will help or hurt banks.

An NCUA proposal to make credit unions more competitive commercial lenders is drawing fire from community bankers, who say it invites risky underwriting, unfair competition and a repeat of the thrift crisis.

Firing or cutting the pay of fraudulent or reckless bankers will go a lot further toward restoring the reputation of financial services than any new regulations, according to a reform-minded group of bankers and regulators.

While the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has not deviated from a 2013 paper outlining a method for unwinding a giant firm, the agency has appeared to fine-tune its approach in significant ways.

Lawmakers included a measure that will impose new mortgage reporting requirements on banks and servicers as part of a short-term highway funding bill passed this week by both chambers of Congress.

Fourth Corner Credit Union, chartered last year to serve Colorado's legal marijuana industry, has filed lawsuits against the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Reserve after having its applications rejected for share deposit insurance and access to the Fed system, respectively.

It's not enough for banks to avoid deceptive practices. As the CFPB's latest enforcement action against JPMorgan Chase makes clear, banks are obligated to ensure their systems protect consumers from easily preventable mistakes.

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.

The Financial Stability Board said that it is tabling its work to develop methodologies for identifying systemically risky asset management firms until after other work to develop an activities-based regulatory approach has completed.

The Senate approved a controversial bill to fund the country's highway spending Thursday, setting up a protracted fight for the banking industry that will continue over the August recess.

Home Affordable Modification Program denial rates are still high, but the Treasury Department and top mortgage servicers contend that the numbers have improved.

The Federal Housing Administration is expected to rebuff a government watchdog report that blasted down payment assistance programs. The report has raised concerns that mortgage lenders would have to indemnify FHA for past loans, and that housing finance agencies would have the programs restructured.

A recent FCC ruling lumps legitimate businesses in with the telemarketing abusers and will hold banks to unrealistic standards.

The nation's Federal Reserve Banks have kicked off a multi-year process aimed at speeding up our often painfully slow payment system. Earlier this month, a Fed task force on the issue elected a steering committee that will play a key role in defining a path forward. The 19 members on the steering committee represent various parts of the payments ecosystem, including banking giants, corporations like Walmart that are large users of the payment system, and payment innovators like Dwolla and Ripple Labs. Here's a look at 13 of them.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers continued their assault Wednesday on a portion of the Dodd-Frank Act that grants the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the ability to seize and unwind a failing banking company, arguing that reforming the bankruptcy code is a better way to tackle "too big to fail."

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry laid out a sweeping financial reform agenda on Wednesday, suggesting he would force the biggest banks to hold even more capital or reinstitute elements of the Glass-Steagall Act.

In a two-day marathon markup, the House Financial Services Committee passed 14 financial reform bills, including measures to broadly restructure the Federal Reserve, block some CFPB rules and limit compensation at the GSEs.

MasterCard is cooperating with a European investigation into its fees, though it is questionable that this process will have a widespread effect on interchange, according to MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga.