Law and regulation

The Selma, Ala. city council approve a six-month moratorium on payday and title loan businesses that will prevent new stores from obtaining licenses, according to city attorney Jimmy Nunn.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday initiated an administrative proceeding against PHH Corp. and its affiliates, alleging PHH harmed consumers through a mortgage insurance kickback scheme that started as early as 1995.

In a long-awaited move that's expected to reduce origination costs and streamline lenders' processes, the Federal Housing Administration will immediately start accepting electronic signatures on all mortgage insurance endorsement and servicing documents, and will accept e-signatures on promissory notes beginning Dec. 31.

Without naming names, the CFPB said in a report released Thursday that, based on its examinations, servicers made borrowers jump through hoops to qualify for loan modifications and were lax about maintaining accurate records.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, rarely sounds ambivalent. But when the topic is something as unprecedented and complex as Bitcoin, the big questions appear to give him pause.

Regulators are signing bilateral MOUs and advancing strategies meant to avoid ring-fencing, but some say more binding pacts should govern cross-border resolutions.

Lenders are loosening underwriting standards for nearly every type of credit except for some home equity lines, according to a report issued Thursday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Merchants can't pass the blame for data breaches onto financial institutions because protecting consumers is a shared responsibility where both sides have to meet their responsibilities.

President Obama's announcement of a new retirement plan for low- to middle-income Americans in his State of the Union address drew scorn from advisors who say many big questions remain to be answered.

Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research, on Wednesday tried to assuage fears by Republican senators that a recent report on the asset management industry could serve as the basis for a designation that such firms are systemically important.

House lawmakers passed a huge agriculture bill Wednesday morning, after political gridlock on key measures like food stamps stalled proceedings for more than two years.

Sunrise Bank in Cocoa Beach, Fla., has been freed from an enforcement order from the Federal Reserve Board.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday took another step in its effort to scale down a controversial bond buying program by an additional $10 billion.

Bankers think the regulatory environment is bad already, but it could get worse as regulators crack down harder on rules violators, hold directors and foreign banks to stricter standards and tackle "too big to fail," a top banking lawyer says.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charging PHH Corp. for running a mortgage insurance kickback scheme for more than a decade.

Crazy Woman Creek Bancorp (CRZY) in Buffalo, Wyo., is planning to convert to a state charter and repurchase preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

It's still unclear what New York's planned "BitLicense" actually is, but the New York Department of Financial Services says its license is meant to encourage Bitcoin businesses to operate and innovate in the state.

President Obama hit on several important issues for bankers in his annual address to Congress Tuesday night, including mortgage finance reform, though as expected financial services issues largely took a backseat to other national concerns, like unemployment and the minimum wage.

It's still unclear what New York's planned "BitLicense" actually is, but the New York Department of Financial Services says its license is meant to encourage Bitcoin businesses to operate and innovate in the state.

President Obama used his State of the Union address Tuesday evening to call for the creation of a new government-backed retirement savings account and reiterate a call for comprehensive housing finance reform.