Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Finance Agency is sticking to its schedule and moving quickly to finalize proposed financial requirements for nonbank firms that service Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

Regulators recently penalized a mortgage firm for keeping a file of licensing-test questions to prep exam takers, the first public challenge to what is believed to be a hushed, but longtime, industry practice.

Bill Emerson, chief executive of Quicken Loans, said at a recent conference that the threat of government probes and a lack of regulatory clarity are making FHA lending less attractive.

Deutsche Bank AG was ordered to pay a record $2.5 billion fine and fire seven employees to settle U.S. and U.K. investigations into its role in rigging Libor.

WASHINGTON — There is a disturbing lack of data on the repo and securities lending markets that could mask a buildup of activity by nonbank lenders, according to a report published Thursday by the Office of Financial Research.

Banking regulators will never conclude that regulation is actually hurting community banks until they study the issue and come to that conclusion on their own.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement attorneys have pulled back on new investigations in order to clear out a slew of pending cases, according to multiple current and former officials at the agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement attorneys have pulled back on new investigations in order to clear out a slew of pending cases, according to multiple current and former officials at the agency.

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers clashed this week over a bill making changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would cap the agency's budget in coming years.

As banks have largely ceded the market for government-backed loans to nonbank lenders and servicers, it's fallen on Ginnie Mae to be sure that these nonbanks can meet their obligations to bondholders. It's a huge concern for President Ted Tozer, who says the company does not have the resources or manpower to examine these firms' finances.

The House is preparing to vote on two cybersecurity bills this week, kicking off the latest push to improve information sharing between private companies and the government about potential attacks and threats.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt just made one of the biggest policy decisions of his 14-month tenure — but so far it has hardly caused a ripple on Capitol Hill.

Bank of America was fined 13.3 million pounds ($20 million) by the British markets regulator for failing to properly report millions of transactions, the highest such penalty imposed by the U.K. to date.

Former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker is far from the first watchdog to suggest the U.S. regulatory system is badly in need of a common-sense makeover. Yet a confusing and ineffective structure remains the status quo.

Seven years after declaring a truce in a battle with large banks over tracking their insured deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reopened the fight Tuesday with a new proposal that would take an even tougher stance.

Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and Republican presidential candidate, told supporters and Bitcoin enthusiasts that policymakers should foster the development of new payments technologies like they did with the Internet.

The National Pawnbrokers Association argues that its members have been unfairly swept up in the Justice Department initiative known as Operation Choke Point. But banks say Choke Point's not to blame: they're closing the accounts of cash-intensive businesses in order to ensure compliance with anti-money-laundering rules.

Federal regulators fined the mortgage servicer Green Tree Servicing $63 million in penalties and restitution on Tuesday, alleging that it mistreated borrowers at risk of foreclosure and failed to honor modifications of loans transferred from other servicers.

Rep. Patrick McHenry said Democrats' resistance to passing certain regulatory relief measures is due to a leftward shift.

If banks consider licensed and regularly supervised pawnbrokers with many compliance responsibilities to be too risky to bank, then what Main Street businesses are safe?