Law and regulation

There was plenty for banks to be encouraged about in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s most recent Quarterly Banking Profile, which reported comprehensive industry earnings for the fourth quarter and all of 2014. Community bank lending is showing steady growth, capital levels keep rising and the FDIC's insurance reserves are stabilizing. But the numbers also contained worrisome signs. Here are key takeaways from the report.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a $50.4 million settlement with the Justice Department for robo-signing documents sent to homeowners in bankruptcy and for related abuses.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a $50.4 million settlement with the Justice Department for robo-signing documents sent to homeowners in bankruptcy and for related abuses.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released a set of new rules for the sale of troubled mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

There should be little debate as to whether the U.S. payment system is falling behind the rest of the world. Great Britain and others lead the world in real time payment options at affordable prices to consumers, merchants and other payment stakeholders.

Though stress tests are widely viewed as a successful and critical exercise, there are growing concerns that regulators — and the banks themselves — may have become too reliant on them, overshadowing other aspects of the supervisory process.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, who has profited from investing in banks while faulting the financial industry's lapses, said Senator Elizabeth Warren's approach to Wall Street is too confrontational.

Lawmakers reluctant to offer community banks regulatory relief should consider the empirical evidence of how Dodd-Frank has hurt small lenders — and listen to the federal and state bank regulators calling for changes.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Monday it had picked Patrick Harker, currently president of the University of Delaware, as its next president, effective July 1.

An audit of Ginnie Mae financials identified four "material weaknesses" and one "significant deficiency," primarily related to the accounting of $6.6 billion in defaulted loans made by the failed lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

Popular and FirstBank gained critical branches and deposits in a region where growth is hard to come by. Some observers said it could also benefit the island to have one less competitor.

Hudson City Bancorp in Paramus, N.J., has been released from an enforcement action with federal regulators.

The Fed's annual dissection of each of the 31 largest U.S. banks is a painstaking and enormously complicated endeavor. This is an inside look at how it works.

Regulators have shut Doral Bank, ending a tumultuous decade for the Puerto Rican bank. The $5.9 billion-asset Doral was the fourth bank to fail this year and the biggest bank to be closed since the $11 billion-asset Westernbank in Puerto Rico was shuttered in April 2010.

Big banks are making critical risk management decisions with data that is old, incomplete or even inaccurate. This endangers the safety of the global financial system in more ways than one.

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 our social media platforms.

Change is coming to the credit card industry following the government's recent antitrust victory against American Express, but the next few weeks could determine how deep the changes are — and who wins and loses.

The Federal Housing Administration's recent premium reduction is undercutting the private sector and expanding the government's role in the housing market, housing finance industry representatives told a House subcommittee on Thursday.

During Congressional testimony this week, Fed Chair Janet Yellen was sharply questioned about remarks made by Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez expressing mild concern about a provision of Dodd-Frank. Yellen didn't defend Alvarez — or note that his comments actually reflected the view of the board.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is extending its deadline for public comments on a proposal to require Global Systemically Important Banks to hold additional capital from March 2 to April 3.