Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board will release the results of the latest round of stress testing exercises of the largest U.S. banks next month, the agency said Tuesday.

Private issuers need certainty to create a new secondary mortgage market, MBA and SIFMA officials say.

Recently released transcripts of Federal Reserve meetings during the last financial crisis reflect how blind policymakers remained to what was unfolding even at its peak. That suggests the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s efforts to sound an early warning next time around are reminiscent of Charlie Brown hoping Lucy won’t pull away the football.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo endorsed supervisors developing so-called "time-varying policies" that would help to address procyclicality, a key contributor to systemic risk.

Risk is like water, seeking the path of least resistance. If the path is narrowed, risk does not necessarily evaporate, as regulators wish, but often focuses as a more concentrated force. Accepting this alternative concept of risk has far-reaching policy consequences.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig said governments should require "subsidiarization," a step that would have significant implications for how the FDIC unwinds failed giants.

Bankers and retailers rehash recent data breaches at Senate hearings, as new legislation is pondered.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau levied a $83,000 civil money penalty on Monday against Connecticut-based First Alliance Lending, a specialty firm that focuses on providing loss-mitigation financing to distressed borrowers.

American National Bank in Oakland Park, Fla., has been freed from an enforcement action from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The chamber is scheduled to consider legislation this week that would drastically alter the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Regulators are facing mounting pressure from lawmakers and the financial industry to address ongoing concerns about the treatment of collateralized loan obligations under the Dodd-Frank Act, which critics warn could effectively destroy the market.

Continued focus on this single, but complex Dodd-Frank provision will distract bank managers and regulators from finding ways to make the global financial system healthier.

The Federal Reserve Board will expand the amount of information it releases about bank applications starting in the second half of this year, the agency said Monday.

Attorney General Eric Holder is urging Congress to require companies to promptly alert consumers and law enforcement authorities to significant data breaches.

Prohibiting future ownership of unstable CLOs is probably a good thing. Forcing a select group of banks, however, to sell these assets over a short time is not the optimal solution.

Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) in Moultrie, Ga., has received regulatory approval to buy back its remaining preferred stock tied to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

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

As Fannie Mae reports another big profit and the repayment of its government bailout, key questions remain about the size of taxpayers' return and the mortgage giant’s business model.

Federal Reserve officials intensely dissected the decision one day after regulators chose to let Lehman Brothers fail without government support, according to meeting transcripts released Friday.

The Federal Reserve on Friday released transcripts from more than a dozen Federal Open Market Committee meetings and conference calls held during 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. The hundreds of pages of recorded history show how policymakers struggled with their decision to allow the investment bank Lehman Brothers to collapse and offer intimations of the turmoil yet to come from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.