Law and regulation

Leaders on the Senate Banking Committee are still trying to move forward on a regulatory relief deal, but negotiations will slip beyond an earlier goal to hold a vote by the middle of April.

The agency announced Wednesday it had filed a massive lawsuit against more than a dozen debt collectors, payment processors and related entities that the agency said failed to detect fraudulent collection tactics. By including processors in its suit, observers said the CFPB's move resembles the Justice Department's Operation Choke Point.

The Topeka FHLB's plan to allow participations in newly issued mortgage pools may benefit members institutions and the bank itself – and could soon be imitated by other Home Loan Banks.

It's ironic that banks want to streamline the regulatory structure when their own structures are hardly paradigms of simplicity. Rather than weaken rules or consolidate agencies, we should focus on improving the quality of oversight — and on reducing banks' complexity.

Any banker considering filing an appeal against examination findings will first weigh the drawbacks of irking regulators. This explains the surprisingly small number of appeals that regulators have received in the last few years.

The partnership with MAX Exchange is designed to enable community banks to sell their loans and get better pricing.

M&T Bank still can't get the Fed's blessing to buy Hudson City. The latest delay raises questions about Hudson City's fate and what could be going on internally at the Fed to keep the acquisition in limbo.

If the Financial Stability Oversight Council was hoping for any kind of consensus on whether and how it should regulate asset management companies, the feedback it has received on its request for comment is likely disappointing. Asset management companies, their representatives and public interest groups presented widely divergent visions about what, if anything, the council should do.

Congress should take the interests of small and midsize mortgage lenders into account as it weighs regulatory reform for community banks. Exempting smaller lenders from random CFPB audits would be a good start.

Enactment of the Durbin amendment in the Dodd-Frank Act was just the start of a fight over implementing debit interchange rules. Retailers ultimately lost their legal effort to toughen the Federal Reserve's swipe fee cap, but they are now arguing that issuers offering Apple Pay service are skirting the Fed's regulation. Here's a look back at how the battle has played out.

The Federal Reserve Board should improve how it tracks employee diversity and performance reviews, according to the agency's Office of Inspector General.

Merchants are making a new argument in their years-long battle with banks over swipe fees, saying Apple Pay has locked them out of additional routing options mandated by Dodd-Frank.

An "unexpected" regulatory delay has forced M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., and Hudson City Bancorp in Paramus, N.J., to delay their merger for the fourth time.

Critics say the SEC uses too liberal a hand in granting waivers that allow firms that violate securities laws to be exempted from certain penalties. But the agency needs these waivers to adjust rules designed to be overly broad.

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Industry groups are crying foul over how a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal to regulate prepaid cards would affect overdraft services and treat virtual currencies.

The plan by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka is intended to reduce the bank's mortgage concentration risk while also providing members with a new investment opportunity

The Fed was right to aggressively lower interest rates after the 2008 crisis. But continuing with zero interest rates and quantitative easing for seven years after the crisis is in conflict with the goal of increased employment and economic growth.

A two-tiered system of regulation could encourage small banks to maintain their relationship-based business model and prevent big banks from using insured deposits to conduct risky activities.

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