Law and regulation

The Financial Stability Board lowered the proposed surcharge on globally systemically-important banks for Citigroup and Bank of New York Mellon, leaving JPMorgan Chase as the only U.S. institution to face the highest 2.5% capital buffer.

The proposed treatment of mortgage securities and associated mortgage financing activities will constrain the sector while handicapping efforts to bring private capital back to the secondary market.

JPMorgan Chase is weighing whether to ban traders from using electronic chat rooms to communicate with peers at other firms as the forums draw scrutiny from global regulators, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Baycorp, a New Zealand-based collection agency, is refunding debtors $3.5 million after a settlement with the country's Commerce Commission.

Bankers do not select the people who regulate them. To work, our system requires smart and prudent regulators as much as it requires smart and prudent bankers. Confirmation hearings should help us find out if Janet Yellen will be such a regulator.

Under Timothy Geithner, the U.S. Treasury dismissed the notion that the biggest banks remained too big to fail. His successor, Jack Lew, initially showed signs of toeing a similar line, but since taking over as Treasury Secretary has displayed a "significant change in attitude," says Neil Barofsky the former inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and author of Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.

New York Fed President William Dudley is suggesting that regulators could force banks to withhold a big chunk of executives' annual pay and then use that money to fill holes in capital when trouble hits.

The three asset management firms are among those attempting to discount the credibility of a report released by the Office of Financial Research last month that argued such companies potentially pose a threat to the economy.

The Treasury Department is taking a roughly 45% discount its latest auction of Troubled Asset Relief Program shares.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is designed to have five members regulate trading by banks, could instead have only one Democrat and one Republican early next year. The split would probably delay votes on contentious Dodd-Frank Act regulations.

Harvey Rosenblum, the former director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has cultivated one of the most public profiles among rank-and-file regulators in the "too big to fail" debate. In an interview with editor-at-large Barbara Rehm, he let loose– and his views might surprise you.

The battle over how to craft affordable housing requirements as part of mortgage finance reform took center stage on Thursday as witnesses at a Senate Banking Committee hearing sparred over the issue, including whether dedicated funds should be subject to Congressional appropriations.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday informed U.S. banks how it plans to craft scenarios for future stress test exercises.

WASHINGTON — Janet Yellen, vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board and President Obama's pick to run the central bank, will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Nov. 14.

If there is any chance a Basel Committee standard could apply to community banks, U.S. regulators need to make every effort to consult with these institutions before agreeing to it.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jeremy Stein warned Thursday that the current scope of regulatory tools will be insufficient to ward off the risks associated with asset fire sales.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it was charging Castle & Cooke Mortgage $13 million in penalties for allegedly pushing consumers into costlier mortgages in order to give kickbacks to loan officers.

As indirect auto lenders brace for regulatory enforcement actions, a group of Senators are raising concerns over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's efforts to overhaul the car financing industry. American Banker reporters explain the implications of the clash between Congress and the CFPB.

Creditors who fear they (or their vendors) aren't in compliance may slow or stop making loans in order to avoid enforcement actions and lawsuits.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will begin to take comments on how to write new regulations for the debt collection industry. These new rules could impact how often a debt can be sold and to whom it can be sold.