Law and regulation

Fearless forecasts from BankThink's stable of industry veterans, experts and critics.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee and others are raising concerns about the credibility of a pending watchdog report analyzing whether some banks are still "too big to fail," suggesting some experts it relies on may be too closely tied to Wall Street.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) lost a bid to throw out a lawsuit by the California attorney general alleging that the largest U.S. bank by assets illegally tried to collect debt from about 100,000 credit-card borrowers.

The authors of banking law have shown a strong and recurring interest in name-identification with their work. Eponyms can provoke emotional reactions and facilitate the merger of persona and policy.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue, addressing reporters following the group's annual "State of American Business" address, said the potential reach of the Volcker Rule into smaller, midsized banks was not the intended effect.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to provide the public with more accurate and detailed information about settlements between companies and federal agencies.

A group of lawmakers is stepping up pressure on regulators to adopt a narrow exemption for small banks under the Volcker Rule to address concerns over the treatment of collateralized debt obligations backed by trust-preferred securities.

JPMorgan Chase and UBS are among banks that received federal requests for information about trades in mortgage-backed securities after the financial crisis, two people briefed on the matter said.

In his first major move as head of the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ex-Rep. Mel Watt said Wednesday that he will delay a planned fee hike that would have raised the cost of most home loans backed by the government-sponsored enterprises.

Requiring HUD to take a stand on how it measures disparate impact may at least remove the anomaly whereby government unwittingly increases the chances a lender gets sued for discrimination.

The new year will bring an end to big regulatory settlements with banks, a sharp drop-off in the number of branches across the industry, increased use of biometric technology and a breakthrough in banks' use of big data. American Banker editors discuss these and other predictions for the year ahead in banking.

WASHINGTON — Former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair will serve on the board of the RAND Corp. starting in April, the nonprofit research organization announced Tuesday.

Here's who has the potential to shake up the debates over housing finance reform, "too big to fail," consumer regulation and other key banking issues in the new year.

American Express is being sued by a West Virginia woman for allegedly engaging in improper debt collection methods.

Bankers are spending so much time complying with new regulations that they're in danger of giving short shrift to actual risk management, says Ingmar Bromstrup, a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group.

A plan to inject $50 million into U.S. Century Bank has reportedly been called off, leaving the undercapitalized Doral, Fla., bank in limbo.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Tuesday defended his decision not to prosecute JPMorgan Chase for allegedly facilitating Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, calling a deferred-prosecution agreement and monetary penalty an "appropriate" resolution of the bank's alleged failings.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could consider expanding exemptions for small lenders from its qualified mortgage rule after it goes into effect on Friday, according to Richard Cordray, the agency's director.

Despite the risks, lenders have calculated that certain loans that fall outside of QM are worth making and holding on their balance sheets.

Lawmakers are gearing up to intervene if regulators fail to resolve ongoing concerns about the treatment of collateralized debt obligations backed by trust-preferred securities under the Volcker Rule.