Law and regulation

Bank of America Corp. is nearing a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in which it will pay between $16 billion and $17 billion to resolve probes into its sale of mortgage-backed bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau named 10 banks and credit unions on Wednesday that it claimed were not being transparent about their agreements with large universities to market financial products to students.

From the architects of multibillion-dollar mortgage settlements comes the latest scare for banks: a Department of Justice investigation of subprime auto lending. But the auto loan market has a different track record and players than mortgages, setting the stage for a unique fight among prosecutors, lenders and dealers.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve Board offered blunt criticism of "living wills" filed by the most complex banks, and warned that failure to improve their 2015 plans could have consequences.

President Obama became the latest policymaker to wish he could make the regulatory system simpler and more efficient. Yet there are powerful reasons why it will never happen. Here's why.

Citigroup's $285 million mortgage-securities pact with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was approved by a judge whose earlier rejection of the accord was assailed by a federal appeals court.

A report on big bank subsidies offers proof that statutory, regulatory, and industry changes have strengthened the financial system in the years since the crisis, according to Financial Services Forum chief Rob Nichols.

The skill set of successful military commanders makes them uniquely well-suited to compliance roles in today's strict regulatory environment, writes former U.S. Army Captain Jonathan Hendershott.

In politics, every penny counts to secure a candidate's position in office. Bitcoin's low cost of acceptance, accompanied by increasing clarity from regulators over its role in campaigns, is making it a more appealing choice for accepting donations.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued new guidelines on the sale of consumer debt, a move that could help reform a practice that consumer groups say is plagued by errors and abuses.

The Department of Justice subpoena asks for documents related to representations and warranties made by GM's financing arm on auto loans that were packaged into securities.

When consumer groups sent mystery shoppers into big-bank branches to learn about overdraft coverage, they were given information that was incomplete, confusing or flat-out wrong, according to a new report.

The proposed merger of the Home Loan banks in Seattle and Des Moines could spur massive consolidation among their sister banks, but only if the two show it's possible to overcome governance and other logistical challenges that have deterred similar deals.

The senior officer loan survey, which is released by the Fed every three months, asked both large U.S. banks and foreign banks about the effect the new ability-to-pay and qualified mortgage rules were having on approval rates for various types of home purchase loans.

Enforcement actions can head off future Bank Secrecy Act violations by outlining the specific steps that compliance officers ought to have taken, according to Robert Axelrod of Deloitte Transaction and Business Analytics.

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It is precisely because we do not know whether the government would opt for a bailout the next time there is a banking crisis that regulators must continue to confront the significant challenges posed by U.S. banks, writes Mayra Rodríguez Valladares.

Rich Weaver has retired as commissioner of the Missouri Division of Finance.

A new government report finds that the size of big bank subsidies falls in stable periods and increases in times of stress. That spells danger when the next crisis comes around, writes Independent Community Bankers of America chief Camden Fine.

The banking industry is stepping up pressure on the Senate to pass a cybersecurity bill this fall that would expand information sharing on cyber threats between private companies and the federal government.