Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final interpretive rule Wednesday that clarifies its housing counseling requirements with respect to high-cost loans.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren isn't running for president, but her financial reform proposals are designed to help shape the 2016 race, including Hillary Clinton's positions.

Banking conditions continue to improve in most regions around the country, despite some negative economic circumstances in other sectors, according to a Federal Reserve Board report released Wednesday.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who sits on Lending Club's board, said in a speech Wednesday that such technology-focused marketplace lenders should be given a fair chance to compete.

Hudson City Bancorp faces a U.S. government investigation into discriminatory lending practices, according to two people familiar with the matter, posing a potential new hurdle in the bank's long-delayed sale to M&T Bank Corp.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., delivered a sweeping speech Wednesday aimed at what she's calling "the unfinished business of financial reform."

FDIC Vice Chairman Tom Hoenig outlined a new measure to grant reg relief, one based on activity rather than size. While his vision would grant 94% of banks substantial relief, he objected, however, to exempting institutions from the Volcker Rule.

Three former executives of Freddie Mac have settled charges that they lied about the government-sponsored enterprise's exposure to subprime mortgages before the market collapsed.

More than 70 banks are set to hit their seventh anniversary this year, crossing a threshold where they will have reduced regulatory scrutiny and relaxed capital ratios. While many are excited about the potential to growth, they are aiming to do so carefully.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the National Credit Union Administration to hold public hearings and receive comments on its annual operating budget.

Still reeling from underwriting guidelines that went into effect last year, some small lenders are worried that a new mortgage disclosure regime might be the thing that pushes them over the edge.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of several tax-preparation outlets that allegedly steered low-income clients into expensive loans against their anticipated refunds.

The Basel Committee needs to measure the efficacy of recently implemented rules, strengthen banks' operational risk requirements and make banks' risk models less variable. Luckily, secretary general William Coen has vowed to do just that.

Even small U.S. banks can end up doing business with institutions all across the world, but here are some jurisdictions were doing so is either outright forbidden or requires additional scrutiny.

General Electric's plan to sell most of its financing arm has been hailed as a sign that financial reform is successfully persuading "too big to fail" firms to break up. But the end of GE Capital just means that the conglomerates left standing are even more homogeneous and risk-prone.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board issued a proposal that would make a technical change to its rules governing the calculation of interest payments on excess cash reserves held at regional Fed banks in order to more seamlessly raise overall interest rates in the future.

As Basel III gets ready to turn five years old this summer, recently appointed Basel Committee secretary general William Coen is taking the necessary step of ensuring that new capital ratio, liquidity standard and leverage ratio rules work well together.

The Banking Committee is working to craft a bipartisan deal on regulatory relief, but if those efforts stall it's possible banking provisions could pop up again as part of key spending and fiscal measures later this year.

The cost of complying with New York State's proposed BitLicense regulations would wipe out many smaller digital currency businesses. But there is a middle ground: placing those businesses under the supervision of a self-regulating incubator that would help them develop robust yet affordable compliance programs.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on regulatory complexity, Jamie Dimon's defense of the megabank model, and how vulnerable banks really are to tech startups.