Law and regulation

All banks must manage risk. But this needn't be their sole focus any more than a restaurateur's sole purpose should be to prevent contaminants from getting into food.

A new study by a consumer group found that checking account disclosures at the nation's largest banks have improved, but overdraft fee practices are largely unchanged from previous years.

It's been just over one year since the Financial Crime Enforcement Network first provided instructions to banks on how they can both accept marijuana business dollars and still comply with the law. Yet few banks have opened their doors.

While we've made progress in regulating banks, it's also necessary to ask whether we are making the most of an opportunity to ensure that the financial industry serves the best interests of society.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Monday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation had terminated a May 2013 order against its Talbot Bank.

The Federal Reserve Board said Monday that it was barring five Swiss bankers from participating in the U.S. banking industry in connection with Credit Suisse's 2014 tax evasion settlement with the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, issued subpoenas Monday for several federal agencies, asking for a trove of documents concerning ongoing investigations that he said they are obstructing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit on Monday against an Ohio-based loan administrator and its owner for allegedly deceptively marketing services that claimed to save consumers money on their mortgage while any actual savings were offset by high fees.

Sen. Richard Shelby's bill isn't public yet, but sources indicate it could simplify capital standards for small banks, raise the $50 billion systemic threshold, alter the "qualified mortgage" rule and make some changes to the structure of the Federal Reserve Board.

In responding to a fan Monday on Twitter, Rowling was asked the full name of the character "Moaning Myrtle," a ghost that haunts Hogwarts, where Harry Potter goes to school. Rowling's reply raised a few eyebrows.

Most banks appear to be coping well with the CFPB's ability-to-repay rule for mortgages, but the burden is falling harder on community banks. A new proposal that would allow more small lenders to grant home loans to borrowers with high levels of debt could help.

Investor-owned ratings agencies would send a message to mutual fund shareholders, retirement plan participants and other investors that steps have been taken to avoid repeating the inaccurate ratings that contributed so heavily to the financial crisis.

The Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation closed the $90 million-asset Edgebrook Bank in Chicago on Friday.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby announced Friday he was pushing back a planned vote on regulatory relief until May 21. The move came just after panel Democrats said they would oppose the bill because they had not yet seen it.

WASHINGTON — Jeremiah Norton, a board member on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will be stepping down on June 5, the agency said late Friday.

The administration's signature loan modification and refinancing programs will be extended for one year to help borrowers "who continue to face challenges," the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice are taking a renewed interest in redlining, the practice of lenders charging more for products or excluding altogether minorities within certain geographic areas — and their findings may be surprising.

WASHINGTON — All 10 Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee sent a joint letter Friday that said they plan to oppose a regulatory relief bill scheduled for a panel vote next week since Republicans have not yet provided legislative language to all members.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including how convenience may help banks beat out Silicon Valley and whether community banks can reduce their regulatory burden on their own.

Bitcoin firms are eager to partner with banks, but they first need to prove that they have left their unruly days behind — and perhaps submit to government oversight.