Law and regulation

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.

Wells Fargo and two other companies must repay customers more than $30 million in mutual-fund-related overcharges, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Monday.

On top of dealing with cyber threats and other potential dangers to banks, CROs are deeply involved these days in discussions over investing in new products and business lines.

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.

Bank regulators should improve their collection of data on information security incidents at financial institutions and facilitate better information-gathering about industrywide cyber threats, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said Thursday.

Allowing real estate investment trusts to bridge the capital need for affordable housing could help de-escalate a rising public funding crisis.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is generally coordinating with prudential regulators on supervisory issues to avoid duplicating responsibilities, but communication between the agencies can still be improved, the CFPB's watchdog said Thursday.

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wants to recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide a secure source of funding for affordable housing.

The former FDIC chairman said during a recent conference call that banks with a traditional model — essentially community banks — have been hurt by the Fed's interest rate policy and the trickle-down tactics of regulation.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to exclude mortgage real estate investment trusts from membership in the Federal Home Loan Banks. That would be a major setback for the entry-level borrowers who depend on mortgage REITs for sustainable home-financing options.