Law and regulation

Each quarter banks report their worst-case estimates of costs tied to lawsuits and regulatory probes. Some banks reported lower figures in recent quarters, but others are braced to spend more to resolve legacy issues. New legal threats loom, too.

WASHINGTON — Regulators were set Wednesday to consider a final liquidity rule for large banks that makes a number of concessions to the industry.

Ex-Im is one of the rare government agencies that's running smoothly, according to Tod Burwell: it returns a profit to taxpayers and makes American businesses more competitive. So why are some legislators gunning for its closure?

Although unintentional, missteps in communications by regulators can create headwinds for companies developing payments innovation.

The Senate Banking Committee is slated to hold a hearing on the Dodd-Frank Act next week with a number of top financial regulators.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a proposal Tuesday designed to exclude captive insurers from the Home Loan Bank system.

As concerns mount that Somali-Americans will lose their pipeline for sending money home, Washington's response has been marked by what critics see as secrecy, buck-passing and a lack of interagency coordination.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has finalized a set of risk management supervisory standards for banks with over $50 billion in assets.

Redwood Trust and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago are revving up a program to buy and securitize jumbo loans and looking for signs that other FHLBs will participate.

Summer has come and gone in the nation's capital with regulators gearing up for an array of autumn policy moves affecting the financial services sector.

The historic basis for credit union tax exemptions has become outdated, according to Frank Keating of the American Bankers Association.

Following one of worst quarters in six years, federally-insured banks and thrifts experienced a rebound in retail mortgage originations in the second quarter.

The Justice Department's recent $16.6 billion deal with Bank of America over crisis-era mortgage fraud has raised fresh questions over a perceived lack of transparency in the settlement process.

Bank of America has taken a significant reputational hit as a result of its 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial. Could it have mitigated some of the damage with a different branding strategy?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has turned to a technology expert for a little help.

Following a prolonged stretch of modest loan growth, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Quarterly Banking Profile showed loan balances shooting to a level not seen since 2007.

An examination of the details in the B of A settlement shows many examples of risky behavior, including mortgage applications that were underwritten with "shadow" guidelines that allowed exceptions to approve almost any loan.

Efforts to limit so-called tax inversions are destined for failure until policymakers reform the corporate tax rate, writes Mark Olson of Treliant Risk Advisors.

The industry's profit in the second quarter rose more than 5% from a year earlier to $40.2 billion as institutions continued to reduce their loan-loss expenses and registered an uptick in loan growth, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday.

Banks that misinterpret regulatory guidance on vendor risk management can wind up shortchanging themselves and stifling industry innovation, according to consultant Paul Schaus.