Law and regulation

It's time for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make good on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's funding obligations to two affordable housing programs.

A federal judge has dismissed an FDIC lawsuit against directors and officers of a failed North Carolina bank. The ruling has big implications for future cases that seek to hold senior bank management accountable for financial crisis-era failures.

A trade group for payment processors is accusing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. of improperly pressuring banks to cut ties with merchants in the pornography business.

FHA commissioner Galante initiated the handbook rewrite to provide more detail and certainty for lenders.

The Supreme Court said Thursday it would hear a case related to the use of "disparate impact" theory to pursue entities for unintentional discrimination, a move that could have significant ramifications for banks.

Two American Indian tribes so far have failed to prove that New York's top banking regulator exceeded his authority in cracking down on out-of-state payday lenders last year, an appeals court panel ruled this week.

The Federal Reserve must take steps to improve handling of complex settlements like the one reached with mortgage servicers over improper foreclosures, an internal watchdog said in a report.

Examiners will not require community banks to adhere to new risk governance standards, but they are likely to expect community bank boards to incorporate the guidelines' fundamental principles into their oversight.

A lawsuit filed by low-income housing advocates designed to force the Federal Housing Finance Agency to provide money to a housing trust fund has been blocked by a U.S. district court judge.

The complexity of the Volcker Rule means that it will be nearly impossible for banks to comply with its requirements within set time frames—and regulators risk wasting a lot of time trying to enforce the unenforceable.

Lenders desperately want to make potentially lucrative home loans to those with less-than-stellar credit, but only a few are willing to try given legal uncertainties. Here's how a few are designing their products to get a jump on the competition.

Doral Financial said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has found it to be "significantly undercapitalized" and is requiring the company fix the problem immediately.

As the industry turns to online-only banking and partnerships with third-party retail distributors, it's getting harder to use geographical boundaries to define the communities that banks serve. That's why the CRA needs an update.

Somali-Americans who send cash home to their relatives can breathe a bit easier following the decision by Merchants Bank of California.

WASHINGTON — Loans for manufactured homes typically come with higher interest rates and fewer consumer protections than more conventional mortgages, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.

The investigative story alleging weak supervision by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has sent shockwaves through the regulatory community, but whether it will lead to any change of course in policy is still an open question.

It is tempting to believe we can avoid another crisis by giving regulators additional controls over the financial markets. A more effective approach would be to acknowledge regulators' limits.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's action against Flagstar Bank on Monday marked a series of firsts for the agency, including the first time it enforced its new mortgage servicing rules and the first time it banned a servicer from servicing new loans until fixes are made.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has ordered Merrick Bank in South Jordan, Utah, to pay $16.1 million to settle charges related to the marketing of a credit card add-on product.

Hefty penalty seems 'puzzling' since the Seattle and Des Moines FHLB merger seems on track to be the first voluntary merger in the 82-year history of the Federal Home Loan Bank System.