Law and regulation

Troubles with home mortgages, debt collection practices and used vehicle sales topped the list of complaints consumers filed last year with the Iowa Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

The Federal Reserve is investigating whether traders at the world's biggest banks rigged benchmark currency rates, raising the risk that firms will be penalized for lax controls as regulators look for wrongdoing.

Global regulators diluted a planned debt limit for banks amid warnings that the measure would penalize low-risk financial activities and curtail lending.

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President Obama announced three nominations to the Federal Reserve Board on Friday, but left the job of a second vice chair in charge of bank supervision unfilled.

Regulators posted condensed blueprints Friday from 116 banking firms on how they could be unwound in a failure.

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

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will soon begin looking beyond the rollout of new mortgage regulations this month to other markets. American Banker's Rachel Witkowski, who covers the CFPB, offers insights into where the agency is headed and when.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken a different -- and more comical -- approach in getting the word out about its new mortgage rules, including an appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Regulators' reviews of big banks' internal resolution plans will become more rigorous in 2014 as a debate grows over what parts of the plans can be seen by the public.

A group of Republican senators introduced a bill Thursday evening to address concerns about treatment under the Volcker Rule of collateralized debt obligations backed by trust-preferred securities.

President Obama on Friday formally announced plans to nominate three top officials to serve as governors of the Federal Reserve Board.

Four Oaks Fincorp (FOFN) in Four Oaks, N.C., and its bank have agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle claims they ignored warning signs of a scheme to defraud customers.

A sweeping set of mortgage rules that primarily target underwriting standards is due to take effect on Friday, but lenders, regulators and market experts remain unsure exactly what their impact will be.

The qualified-mortgage rule, reduced refi activity and ongoing commoditization are forcing smaller institutions to take a hard look at exiting the mortgage origination business.

If regulators want to limit the damage in Main Street communities, they should completely exempt Trups CDOs from the Volcker Rule. This would avoid needless writedowns without putting Main Street communities at financial risk.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced legislation Thursday that would require banks to provide greater transparency around prepaid card fees.

Big banks have gotten an unfair rap and regulators an unjustified free pass since the financial crisis -- so argues longtime banking industry analyst Richard X. Bove in a new book. The outspoken Bove, now with Rafferty Capital Equity Research, tells American Banker why he believes the Dodd-Frank Act was unnecessary and federal regulators to blame for failing to prevent the crisis.

The European Commission is sticking to its original Single Euro Payment Area migration deadline of next month, but is establishing a grace period of an extra six months for banks and businesses struggling to make the switch to euro payment formats.

The Dodd-Frank Act and other financial regulations enacted in the wake of the financial crisis have made banking a "worse place" by adding unwieldy and unnecessary restrictions on big banks, says Dick Bove. The longtime bank analyst also points a finger at regulators for failing to adequately enforce existing regulations in the lead-up to the crisis, a point he discusses at length, while defending big banks, in a new book.