Law and regulation

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.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from social media platforms.

Trading revenues at commercial banks and thrifts took a dive in the fourth quarter but largely because of seasonal trends, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday.

As the industry's recovery boosts hopes of new-bank activity, some are already focused on what the greater stability could mean for the embattled industrial loan company charter.

The administration's new step empowers Treasury to freeze assets of those behind attacks that harm the U.S. financial system or other "critical" infrastructures.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency appointed Richard Taft to be its next deputy comptroller for credit risk.

Federal regulators announced Tuesday they approved Wells Fargo’s process for complying with risk-based capital requirements under the “advanced approaches” framework of the international Basel III regime.

The fight over the Dodd-Frank Act's $50 billion threshold will determine whether some banks get a respite from tougher rules, but it may also shape how the industry and lawmakers think about threats to the financial system more broadly.