Law and regulation

The Volcker Rule may finally be out, but the process of understanding the intricacies of the complex regulation that bans the largest banks from making risky trades has only just begun.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will pay $100 million to state and federal regulators to settle allegations that it violated sanctions on doing business with Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and Cuba.

After three years with regulators at odds with each other, the five agencies have finalized Dodd-Frank's Volcker Rule.

MasterCard Inc. said its board of directors approved an 83 percent dividend increase and a 10-for-1 stock split.

The Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase framed his bank's record-setting $13 billion settlement as a business decision — but acknowledged that he now has work to do to repair ties with Washington.

Despite widespread concerns at community banks, industry experts assert that regularly testing can help bankers with strategic planning.

Even before Dodd-Frank, federal regulations had grown exponentially. The sheer quantity of the regulations is bad enough, but the complexity often confuses banks and their customers and increases compliance costs.

EverBank Financial (EVER) in Jacksonville, Fla., has agreed to pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $48 million in connection with its purchase of the failed Bank of Florida in May 2010.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the bank will have to reprice certain lending products to get to a "fair return" now that regulators are requiring the industry to hold more capital.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has sued collection agencies United Credit Recovery, GTF Services and Standley & Associates for allegedly using fraudulent bank documents to try collecting outstanding debts and for engaging in deceptive trade practices that harmed consumers.

The Senate confirmed Rep. Mel Watt Tuesday evening to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, thanks to a historic filibuster rule change launched by Democrats late last month.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused GE Capital Retail Bank of misleading consumers into a health care credit card product that retroactively charged exorbitant interest rates, marking the agency's first significant attempt to go after such offerings.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday approved a nearly 11% reduction in the agency's budget for 2014, a further sign of how the improving economy is reducing bank failures.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a strategy document on its method for unwinding failed behemoths, but concerns raised by board members and questions asked to the public in the document signal the start of a broader debate.

Regulators braved a short-lived but intense snow storm in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to approve the final Volcker Rule, a regulation designed to prevent banks from engaging in proprietary trading. Within minutes of its approval, banks, lawmakers and others reacted to the long-awaited provision. Following are some of the highlights:

Regulators appeared visibly relieved Tuesday as they signed off on a final Volcker Rule after three years of interagency wrangling, but the hardest part will be figuring out how to implement and enforce the new regulation

The five-member board voted unanimously to flesh out how the policy will work when a systemically important company fails. But this show of unity may be misleading and fleeting.

Underwater homeowners in New York state may soon have a new way to reduce the principal on their mortgages.

Rep. Mel Watt cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate Tuesday toward becoming the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with a final confirmation vote to come as early as this afternoon.

Janet Yellen has made it clear she wants to move the Federal Reserve away from a bank-centric regulatory model to one that appropriately tailors rules to the nonbanks that it now regulates.