Law and regulation

The agency appears to be on the verge of reining in lawsuits that have cost banks hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

Regardless of the outcome, MetLife's decision to fight the Financial Stability Oversight Council's ruling that the insurer is "systemically important" will have serious implications for the council's ability to rein in nonbanks.

Capital markets hold the key to the future for the consolidating Wall Street landlords, but the path through is downright bloody.

Regulators want banks to police MSBs for illicit activity, but they do not view all such businesses as high-risk, said David Cohen, Treasury's top AML official.

Lenders and homebuyers should not expect further reductions in Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance premiums this year, according to Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro.

As banks look to cuts costs and improve efficiency, many are actively trying to reduce the number of times they "touch" a loan file. The goal: get the application right the first time so it doesn't have to be sent back to the underwriter for time-consuming and costly fixes.

President Obama signed into law a six-year extension to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act on Monday night, putting to rest months of debate over the program.

The White House rolled out several more cybersecurity provisions on Tuesday, including a proposal to better coordinate information sharing between the government and the private sector around cyberattacks and emerging threats.

The CFPB should receive its funding from Congress rather than the Federal Reserve in order to increase its accountability. Lawmakers should also take steps to limit the power accorded to the agency's director.

The Supreme Court gave homeowners more ability to cancel their mortgages if lenders don't provide the required disclosures, in a setback for the banking industry.

The insurance provider MetLife said it will file a lawsuit Tuesday to challenge its designation as a systemically important financial institution, arguing the Financial Stability Oversight Council erred in making the determination.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching a toolkit on Tuesday that will help consumers shop for a mortgage by finding the best rates in their area based on data the agency gathers from lenders.

Freddie Mac in the next month plans to approve three more lenders, including one bank, to make multifamily loans between $1 million and $5 million for GSE purchase and securitization, according to an official. Banks were not initially courted.

Lazard Ltd.'s Antonio Weiss has withdrawn from consideration to be Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance as his nomination ran into opposition from Democrats in the Senate.

A new push by President Obama to tighten cybersecurity at banks and other businesses could help light a fire under some firms that have historically been slower to react in the wake of a data breach and help financial institutions dealing with a tangle of confusing state laws.

The National Credit Union Administration is due Thursday to unveil a second version of its risk-based capital rule after pressure from lawmakers and the credit union industry forced it to scrap its first attempt.

The influential Treasury Undersecretary David S. Cohen will take over as Deputy Director of the nation's top spy agency after years of managing U.S. sanctions and effort to counter illicit financial networks

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is attempting to clarify its policy regarding brokered deposits after a persistent flood of inquiries from bank and others about what meets the definition.

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

Government investigations of auto lending are beginning to pile up, and they are weighing on investors' perceptions of the fast-growing industry.