Law and regulation

Interest rates will rise sooner or later, and banks should be prepared to manage their risk exposures, according to a new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

It should be obvious that no one in his or her right mind would design the bank regulatory system we have today. No third-world country's bureaucracy is so byzantine.

American Express has been ordered by federal regulators to pay nearly $76 million to settle allegations that it used to deceptive marketing and unfair billing practices to sell credit card add-on products to its customers.

Regulators have finalized the Volcker Rule governing banks' trading activity, the industry is likely to legally challenge many of the specifics, says Ingmar Bromstrup, a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country's central bank, has decided not to interfere with transactions made in the digital currency.

For the second time in a little over a year, regulators have punished the credit card giant for allegedly using deceptive marketing and unfair billing practices in selling add-on products.

American Express has been ordered by federal regulators to pay nearly $76 million to settle allegations that it used to deceptive marketing and unfair billing practices to sell credit card add-on products to its customers.

According to many, 2013 was meant to be the year that policymakers made technical corrections to the Dodd-Frank Act. But that didn't happen — and may not occur in 2014 either. Here's why.

The Federal Reserve is proposing changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 to regulations governing its ability to extend emergency lending to struggling financial firms.

Parke Bancorp (PKBK) in Sewell, N.J., has raised roughly $20 million in a private placement.

WASHINGTON - PNC Financial has reached a $35 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Justice over allegations that National City Bank - which PNC acquired in 2008 - made higher-priced mortgage loans to minorities.

When Tom Curry was first named as comptroller, there were some doubts about whether he was the right pick to address the industry's problems and the agency's battered reputation. Yet during the past year, Curry has reasserted the OCC's role in banking regulation and appears distinctly more comfortable in his role.

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association plans to challenge the Volcker Rule in court unless regulators immediately suspend portions of the controversial regulation that restrict certain collateralized debt obligations of trust-preferred securities.

Banks that want to expand via M&A will face a special challenge in 2014. The failed-bank market has quieted, but regulatory costs and other factors that are expected to drive open-bank M&A haven't coalesced quite yet, says bank M&A advisor Randy Dennis.

Ally Financial Inc., the auto lender majority owned by the U.S. government, won regulatory approval to change its holding-company status, allowing the firm to keep an insurance business and a vehicle-auction website.

The number of homes in foreclosure fell sharply in the third quarter as fewer and fewer borrowers fell behind on their mortgages, according to a report released Monday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Volcker Rule may be finalized, but bankers still face many looming questions about the final shape of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and other pending financial regulations. American Banker editors discuss what to expect in 2014 from regulators including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Before consigning millions of Americans to lives of perpetual tenancy, we need observers on all sides of the housing reform debate to put aside rhetoric and focus on market realities.

The Office of Financial Research has made a number of improvements in its measurement of systemic risk but falls well short of providing a forward-looking assessment of emerging dangers.

CMS Bancorp (CMSB) in White Plains, N.Y., plans to terminate its sale to Customers Bancorp (CUBI) in Wyomissing, Pa.