Law and regulation

In order for bank CEOs to be included on any "great leaders" list, trust with customers, employees and shareholders must be strong.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising concerns about a caveat in private student loan contracts that allows lenders to automatically put a borrower in default when a co-signer faces certain kinds of hardship.

A powerful group of shareholders is amplifying attacks on housing finance reform legislation as they await resolution of a major legal battle, attempting to slow momentum on the bill before it likely passes the Senate Banking Committee.

Fannie and Freddie are huge in size, huge in global systemic risk, close to zero in capital, and of fully demonstrated "too big to fail" status. What is stopping the Financial Stability Oversight Council from designating them as systemically important?

Govern Google, regulate nationally, build on that baseline, evidence externalities and reduce demand in order to transform payday from a great divider into a great unifier.

IMGCAP(1)]

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

Two officials of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who played important roles in shaping the new mortgage rules have joined Wells Fargo.

Zions Bancorporation, which failed the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, deferred giving Chief Executive Officer Harris Simmons a cash bonus until after the bank learns the results of its resubmission.

The American Bankers Association recommended several fixes to a bill to overhaul the mortgage finance market pending in the Senate Banking Committee.

In the old days the Fed's monetary policy and bank supervision were separate sides of the house. But its postcrisis capital rules for banks are blurring those boundaries.

The Federal Reserve prohibited a former Missouri bank chairman from involvement in any bank management after he admitted to using federal bailout money to buy a luxury condominium.

Former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair took private investors to task this week, arguing that their failure to understand and manage mortgage-market risk helped bring about the financial crisis.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) isn't giving up on the small-dollar loan market, Chief Executive Kevin Kabat said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — Two officials of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who played important roles in shaping the new mortgage rules have joined Wells Fargo (WFC).

Without meaningful transparency on banks’ financial reports, regulatory capital ratios and living wills, anyone writing about bank earnings is a willing actor in banks’ quarterly earnings Kabuki theater.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.

Under its aggressive quantitative easing program, the Fed is borrowing short-term and investing long-term, exposing itself to severe interest rate risk when short-term rates rise, writes former Fed economist Scott Hein.

American Express' joint travel venture may get delayed as it awaits regulatory approval, CFO Jeff Campbell told investors Jan 16.

WASHINGTON — Good bank supervision is the best wait to limit risks to the financial system, but monetary policy can be used to promote stability in rare instances, Federal Reserve Gov. Jeremy Stein said Wednesday.