Law and regulation

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is calling for breaking up the biggest U.S. banks, revamping the Federal Reserve and pursuing criminal cases against financial institutions that have broken the law.

Requiring brokers to come clean with customers about conflicts of interest sounds like an easy way to address biases. But disclosures are only effective if recipients understand how the conflict has influenced the advisor and have a way to correct that influence.

Federal and state regulators said the $216 million settlement against JPMorgan Chase is a warning that they are not finished targeting firms that mishandle collections or improperly resell bad debts.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has reintroduced a bill reviving provisions of the Depression-era law that separated commercial banking from riskier financial activity.

As Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew defended the legacy of the 2010 reform law, in another part of the capital a banker and Republican lawmakers pleaded for legislative changes.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay more than $200 million to settle claims by federal and state authorities that the megabank wrongfully collected credit card payments on hundreds of thousands of consumers.

Trade finance has been quietly making a significant contribution to global growth. But regulations like Basel III could reduce its availability.

The Fed determined that the purchase of Susquehanna Bancshares, which would push BB&T's assets above $200 billion, will not pose a threat to the U.S. financial system. The approval could give more regional banks confidence to pursue bigger acquisitions.

Student loan servicers continue to use "shoddy" practices in handling loans for military service members, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.

Digital-only Atom Bank in the U.K. recently won a banking license — a feat U.S. fintech entrepreneurs have either failed to accomplish or not bothered trying, instead partnering with established institutions.

The Federal Housing Administration wants to set a hard deadline for servicers to file claims on soured mortgages. Industry executives say it should be manageable — unless foreclosures surge again.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named Helen Mucciolo its executive vice president, principal financial officer and head of its corporate group.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reached a broad agreement with the U.S. affiliate of Spanish powerhouse Banco Santander calling for improvements in internal risk management, liquidity and capital adequacy controls.

The former operators of an online payday lending scheme in the Kansas City area will be banned from the consumer finance business under a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

A federal court has stopped the operations and froze the assets of a national debt relief telemarketing business that is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Florida.

Nearly 25 years after a landmark deal and two subsequent legislative overhauls, glitches in the credit reporting system remain widespread. As a result, regulators and law enforcement officials are again raising the stakes for the credit reporting industry, but critics fear it may not be enough.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling that the disparate impact theory of liability can be applied to the Fair Housing Act means mortgage lenders must be even more vigilant in their ongoing testing and evaluation of business practices that could be interpreted as even unintentional discrimination.

MetLife and its allies are pushing back against the Financial Stability Oversight Council. But it's well worth imposing additional regulatory costs on large nonbanks if doing so helps prevent another crisis.

While hiring a chief risk officer is a given at the big banks, smaller institutions must weigh several factors and options in determining the risk leadership model that works for them.

Twelve of the largest financial firms provided more information than they did last year in the public versions of their plans for breaking themselves up in a financial catastrophe, but whether they have done enough to reassure regulators won't be known for months.