Law and regulation

Honda, Toyota and Nissan's financing arms are poised to agree to limit discretionary pricing for dealers after regulators accused them of allowing partners to mark up loans at higher rates to minorities, according to confidential documents.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Tuesday unveiled a much-anticipated tool meant to help institutions assess their own cybersecurity systems.

The use of prepaid cards has skyrocketed, thanks in part to rising popularity among consumers who already have a checking or savings account, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The agency's Semiannual Risk Perspective pinpointed compliance and operational risk as potential problems for big banks while it outlined a different set of challenges for midsize and community banks.

The Federal Housing Administration's new loan defect "taxonomy" may give lenders better clarity on the quality assurance reviews of FHA loans, but it's not a shield from possible enforcement action by the Department of Justice and other regulators.

JPMorgan Chase will overhaul customer screening procedures to let more low-income consumers open checking and savings accounts under an agreement announced Tuesday with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Citigroup failed one of the monitoring tests performed as part of the national mortgage settlement, according to new reports filed by NMS monitor Joseph Smith A. Jr.

Even if the U.S. government eases enforcement against banks processing wire transfers to developing countries, lawsuits brought by the plaintiffs' bar under the Anti-Terrorism Act may make banks continue to avoid providing remittance services to needy communities.

Equal-opportunity small business lending can go a long way toward helping minority groups rebuild the wealth lost during the Great Recession. The CFPB has delayed implementing reporting requirements that could close the credit gap for far too long.

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., again delayed the filing of its annual report after it found $24 million in additional loan losses that should have been reported in earlier periods.

FHFA report shows FHLBs are well capitalized while Fannie and Freddie continue to see improving loan performance.

MetLife is asking a federal court to force the Financial Stability Oversight Council to hand over documents that the agency says are protected by confidentiality agreements, saying those agreements cannot shield discovery if they are the basis of a systemic designation.

One key test of banks' latest living will submissions, the first batch of which are due Wednesday, is whether the public portions of their plan are understandable to the public. If they aren't, regulators are ready to take tough action against institutions.

Citigroup overtook JPMorgan Chase to become the largest derivatives dealer in the U.S. The firm's derivative contracts as measured on a notional basis were $56.6 trillion at the end of first quarter, while JPMorgan came in at $56.2 trillion.

Culture is measured in the good banks do for communities and customers, employees and shareholders. That kind of culture must be built over generations.

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Citizens Community Bank in South Hill, Va., has redeemed about 75% of its outstanding preferred stock in the Small Business Lending Fund.

Many in the banking industry on Friday voiced support for the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage nationwide and discussed how it would have an impact on their businesses.

As the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank approaches, regulators in the U.S. and around the world appear to be joining the financial industry in favoring an approach to shadow banking that focuses on risky activities, rather than entities.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a proposal to regulate banks based on their activities rather than size and a plea for members of Congress to take action to help community banks.