Law and regulation

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.

Critics have complained recently that bank regulators and the Justice Department have been overstepping their legal authority and acting like moral police. American Banker staffers discuss what's behind the charges and whether they stand up to scrutiny.

Bankers, industry representatives and other experts largely praise the FDIC's plan to unwind troubled behemoths, but suggest a host of issues that the agency needs to address before it can ensure the end of "too big to fail."

Two Florida men have been sentenced to serve seven years in federal prison for swindling more than $4 million from borrowers who were behind on their mortgages.

U.S. banks are seeking to shield from scrutiny the $30 billion they collect annually in checking-account fees, saying a proposed requirement for periodic reports is unacceptable even if it exempts small institutions.

JPMorgan Chase recovered only $593 million in charged-off credit card debts in 2013 - a slump of 57% from three years earlier. The drop reflects the improving economy and the regulatory pressures facing JPMorgan and other big banks over their collection practices.

Jennifer Shasky Calvery offered a character from the hit TV series as an example of a "third-party money launderer."

The judge who presided over the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the largest in U.S. history, will join law firm Morrison Foerster LLP next month to help lead its restructuring and insolvency group.