Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — Federal bank regulators made a tool available on Wednesday to help banks calculate capital requirements for securitization exposures.

GOP lawmakers on Wednesday harshly criticized the Federal Housing Administration's recent move to lower insurance premiums, saying it violates the law and will be used to entice borrowers into predatory loans.

The central bank is floating the concept of using the Internet to facilitate the direct clearing of transactions between financial institutions, which would likely diminish its own role in the U.S. payment system.

The central bank is floating the concept of using the Internet to facilitate the direct clearing of transactions between financial institutions, which would likely diminish its own role in the U.S. payment system.

Outcries about regulators' negligence in ending too big to fail ignore a number of major developments since the financial crisis, including the new orderly liquidation authority and the overhaul of the regulatory capital framework.

Many colleges partner with banks to offer students special accounts. Unfortunately, the benefits of these accounts are grossly overstated and can even cause harm.

There's an almost endless list of reasons for payment companies to avoid doing business in Russia, but the opportunities are just as vast.

In unusually expansive comments, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray provided new details Tuesday about proposals due soon from the agency while offering insights into an internal battle over easing a key mortgage rule.

The Senate Banking Committee's first look at regulatory relief for small institutions provided key insights into how the panel is likely to tackle the topic legislatively this year, suggesting it could be a long and contentious debate.

The creation of a new cybersecurity agency is the latest move by the Obama administration to combat the increasing threat of cyberattacks.

WASHINGTON — NewDay Financial has agreed to a $2 million fine after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged that the mortgage lender engaged in an improper kickback scheme and used deceptive marketing tactics targeted at veterans.

Mozido LLC is buying its way into China, giving it a head start as big companies like Apple also eye the country's payments market.

A better way to deal with the "too big to fail" problem would be to impose higher capital requirements or to issue "rescue" bonds to bank investors.

Fed Governor says initiatives in Congress would subject the central bank to dangerous political interference with little payoff in transparency or accountability.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising concerns about the transparency and clarity of reverse mortgages based on more than a thousand complaints it received about the product.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is trying to send a clearer message to banks about potential red flags by removing low-level recommendations from its exam reports.

An admission of guilt would help investors make informed decisions about the validity of credit ratings and open up the rating business to healthy competition on the basis of quality.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Protests by community groups and now a public hearing threaten to delay the completion of CIT's acquisition of OneWest Bank. The deal will probably get approved, and it might not get delayed too long, but all those "probablys" and "mights" are what make the proponents of more big M&A queasy.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission is pushing hard against charging fees for faster Internet access, a stance that's a relief to businesses like Dwolla that use the Internet to develop and deliver payment services.