Law and regulation

The housing sector is increasingly a drag on consumption and job creation. The fault lies not with the market but with ill-considered regulations and bank capital rules.

The settlement of the Visa and MasterCard class action interchange swipe fee case has spawned a new type of company—the third-party claims filing company.

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It is still unresolved how regulators will apply capital requirements to insurance companies under the Dodd-Frank regime for systemic firms, but members of Congress are urging the Federal Reserve Board to be flexible.

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

A former employee of TD Bank and her accomplice have pleaded guilty to committing identity theft and stealing government funds.

Fast-tracking foreclosures on vacant properties in states that handle foreclosures through the courts "could result in substantial cost savings" for all involved, according to a study by Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder took shots at credit rating agencies and Wall Street traders this week in a public lecture at the Museum of American Finance.

The Community Home Lenders Association is pointing to President Obama's recently released budget as proof that the Federal Housing Administration has leeway to lower premiums.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling and two other GOP lawmakers are probing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over how it treats its employees.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke reportedly made more in his first post-Fed speech than he did in his entire last year running the central bank.

Banks have stepped up efforts to extend the government's terrorism risk insurance program, fearing that Congress may fail to act before it is scheduled to expire at yearend.

Scott Tomlinson at Flint Community Bank used a meeting with the agency's deputy director to speak his mind on the shortcomings of mortgage regulation.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is suing four former officers and directors of a failed Baltimore bank for more than $7.4 million in damages.

The information that some of the nation's largest data brokers are selling to consumer lenders is riddled with inaccuracies, the National Consumer Law Center finds.

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has launched a hilarious stunt to urge federal regulators to ban U.S. dollars, following a more serious plea by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to prohibit Bitcoin.

The subsidiaries of the $4.4 billion-asset company will be merged into Simmons First National Bank by August 2014, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is not right that a creditor be held liable for unintentional discrimination on the basis of less evidence than is required to prove intentional discrimination. Leveraging a settlement on threat of litigation without such evidence is an abuse of power.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau managers are far more likely to rate white employees highly than minorities, data obtained by American Banker shows. The figures reflect broad personnel problems inside the agency and are likely to give rise to claims that it's failing to uphold standards it punishes others for violating.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's employee ratings show the same sorts of racial patterns that it has castigated bankers for permitting in the loan market. American Banker staffers discuss what may be behind the numbers and what they may mean for bankers and policymakers.