Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — Two key Democrats are asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate the financial stability of nonbank mortgage servicers and potential harms to borrowers.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo issued a stark warning to bankers Monday to improve their culture and ensure employees are not behaving badly before regulators are forced to do it for them.

Regulators are finally ready to unveil a final risk retention rule, but whether the new regulation provides enough certainty to jumpstart the securitization market is an open question.

Many have predicted that banks will be unwilling to accept the additional risks associated with non-QM lending. But a recent survey suggests that some lenders are dipping their toes into the waters.

The federal government's unlawful sweep of Fannie and Freddie profits has sent a clear message to private capital: There's only downside to being the government's partner in a time of crisis.

John Ikard, a Colorado bank CEO and incoming chairman of the American Bankers Association, hopes to score a few legislative victories on behalf of bankers, who he says have spent years on the defensive.

New York regulator Benjamin Lawsky may use the cybersecurity rules he's proposed for virtual-currency companies as a model for traditional banks. That would subject the financial institutions his agency supervises to the most stringent data-security rules anywhere.

WASHINGTON — NBRS FInancial in Rising Sun, Md., has become the second institution in the state to fail this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. told an Ohio bank early last year that doing business with payday lenders is generally unacceptable, according to a letter released Friday by House Republicans.

Changes to representation and warranty contract are also expected to be announced MBA annual convention.

Mortgage lenders are threatening to halt lending on condominiums in Nevada after the state Supreme Court upheld a law allowing homeowners associations to foreclose ahead of first mortgage holders.

President Obama may be one of the most powerful men in the world, but he's not immune from the frustrations of having a credit card declined.

An executive order signed by President Obama on Friday that mandated the adoption of chip and PIN technology in government cards and enabled its use in facilities like Post Offices is a "meaningless gesture" that smacks of politics over substance.

A U.S. housing regulator plans new steps to encourage banks to lend to buyers with less than-perfect credit scores, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Many lenders think home loans are off-limits for undocumented immigrants because they lack Social Security numbers, but higher-cost loans using borrowers' individual taxpayer identification numbers are available and being made by a handful of firms.

An executive order signed by President Obama on Friday that mandated the adoption of chip-and-PIN technology in government cards and enabled its use in facilities like post offices smacks of politics over substance, analysts said.

The Federal Reserve Board issued a final rule Friday that will give banks an additional three months to comply with stress test requirements.

Richard Hunt of the Consumer Bankers Association explains the industry's beef with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint portal – particularly the agency's proposal to include "narratives" in the information published.

As the CFPB focuses on the screening processes that banks use to vet checking account applications, regulators should try to maintain a balance between safety and soundness concerns and consumer protection.

The White House is slated to unveil a major package of initiatives on Friday to increase data security for financial transactions, including an executive order to add chip-and-PIN technology to government-issued credit and debit cards.