Law and regulation

Nearly five years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, regulators are beginning to question whether the cumulative effect of the rules authorized by the law are hurting market liquidity — and if that could pose a systemic risk.

Terrorism financiers are exploring the use of virtual currencies such as bitcoin to fund their operations as authorities crack down on the flow of illicit money through more traditional channels, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Community West Bancshares in Goleta, Calif., said that a litigation settlement concerning its sale of residential-mortgage loans will reduce its second-quarter profit.

Anthony Albanese, the top deputy to New York bank regulator Benjamin Lawsky, will become acting head of the state's Department of Financial Services when his boss steps down next week, signaling little change in that office's aggressive stance on financial enforcement.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week, from the qualities we should look for in the next sheriff of Wall Street to overdraft fee regulation. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

Several House lawmakers joined the call Thursday for a formal grace period for new mortgage disclosures that would go beyond an earlier decision by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro touted the Federal Housing Administration’s recent improvement on Thursday, saying it was on a trajectory to hit its statutory minimum and had recently seen a "significant uptick in refinancings."

Banks may be using credit default swaps to circumvent capital rules, potentially shuttling risk away from the regulated sector in ways that may pose systemic risk, according to a paper issued Thursday by the Office of Financial Research.

A dramatic last-minute drop is occurring in a corner of the market for collateralized loan obligations ahead of a deadline for U.S. banks to get rid of some of their holdings.

Alternative data used to score "credit invisibles" may do more harm than good. That's because in areas like employment and insurance, no credit score is often better than a bad one.

New York's highest court may have shut the door to many future lawsuits over flawed mortgage bonds, ruling investors have six years from the day the deal closed to pursue remedies.

Banks have agreed to dole out billions of dollars in fines and settlements this year, on everything from rigging foreign-currency markets to processing transactions for groups suspected of terrorism. We catch you up if you've lost track.

The number of vacant and abandoned properties that are in foreclosure decreased in the second quarter, according to a RealtyTrac report.

A bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members is urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make risk-sharing a higher priority for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon took aim at U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a critic of large banks, as he expressed broad concerns about leadership in Washington.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule Wednesday that allows it to monitor the biggest nonbank auto finance companies.

More than a dozen housing groups are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would grant lenders a formal grace period for implementing new disclosure forms later this summer, arguing that the industry needs greater certainty than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has so far provided.

The digital currency world is readying itself for more regulatory penalties over the failure to meet Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering requirements following federal agencies' action against Ripple Labs last month.

With the onset of the new integrated disclosures rule, mortgage lenders owe it to their companies to make sure that operations folks have the chance to get out to events and workshops that will keep them informed and updated on new industry requirements.

Fannie and Freddie should offer upfront risk-sharing options in order to give lenders an opportunity to lower their guarantee fees while encouraging more private capital and competition to flow into the secondary mortgage market.