Law and regulation

Regulators have given the merger between CIT Group and OneWest Bank the green light — so long as CIT comes up with a revised Community Reinvestment Act plan. This condition is good news for the low-income communities impacted by the merger and sets a strong precedent for regulators' review of future bank deals.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still not producing enough adequately-trained examiners necessary to monitor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to an inspector general report.

The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is renewing calls for further investigation of servicers it claims may be denying too many Home Affordable Modification Program applications.

The House Financial Services Committee tackled several key bills including ones targeting Operation Choke Point, executive compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, small banks' exam cycle, and changes or delays to several actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Bank of America and Goldman Sachs have promised the Obama administration to invest in, and provide other support for, efforts to fight climate change.

Bank regulators are likely to take further action to force banks to upgrade their cybersecurity processes as hackers continue to find ways to penetrate institutions’ defenses, Benjamin Lawsky, the top former New York bank supervisor, said Tuesday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charging two companies affiliated with Western Union and Fidelity National Financial more than $38 million in total charges for allegedly steering consumers into a mortgage payment program that cost them millions of dollars in fees.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charging two companies affiliated with Western Union and Fidelity National Financial more than $38 million in total charges for allegedly steering consumers into a mortgage payment program that cost them millions of dollars in fees.

WASHINGTON — Three nonbank giants designated for tougher federal supervision received added guidance Tuesday on what regulators expect to see in the companies' mandated resolution plans.

There is no reason a bank should be able to issue a loan and enjoy one set of rules while a marketplace lender, essentially issuing the same loan, must deal with a morass of conflicting state standards.

Bank groups hope rapid congressional action highlights the small-business lending program's political appeal, while nonbank lenders sense an opportunity.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau denied an auto dealer trade group's request for a document detailing limits imposed by Honda's financing arm on dealer price discretion.

Western Union announced that it will reinstate international remittances into Greece, after suspending them following the country's decision to shut down all banks amid a mounting debt crisis.

Regulators rely for critical information on consulting firms that are paid by the very same banks that they are engaged to evaluate. This conflict of interest has repeatedly proven toxic.

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Two years after a Texas community bank's legal challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's constitutionality was dismissed by a federal court, the case is back from the dead.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including recommended reforms to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Ripple Labs' efforts to work toward a decentralized payments protocol.

Sen. Susan Collins successfully added a measure to an appropriations bill that would allow the FDIC, OCC and Fed to exempt banks with less than $10 billion of assets from regulations that they deem unnecessary or burdensome, which some observers said could have a big impact.

A Senate bill passed late Thursday provides additional funding but it also requires enhanced reporting on lending and credit quality from SBA. The measure is headed to the House.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Citigroup let customers move illicit cash through its Mexico unit, setting the bank's biggest international operation in the path of an expanding money-laundering probe.