Law and regulation

Top Federal Reserve Board officials are cautiously eyeing the possibility that a new liquidity proposal may incite a collateral shortfall just as the central bank starts to unwind its easy-money policies.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is treading a fine line between protecting individuals from wrongdoing and acting as if it knows what's good for them. American Banker staffers discuss how behavioral economics is shaping its policy decisions.

Nearly half of the large banks surveyed said mortgage applications were either "moderately" or "substantially" lower, according to a Fed survey released Monday.

The CFPB has referred at least three auto lenders to the Justice Department for further investigation into possible fair lending violations, even as lawmakers continue to question the agency's authority.

The Treasury Department plans to auction seven more lenders' Troubled Asset Relief Program shares, with a total face value of about $90 million.

No market should over-rely on one entity. But references in regulations and lending guidelines to the dominant credit score provider have created unintentional government brand endorsement and blocked new entrants.

Taylor Capital Group (TAYC) in Chicago is buying back its outstanding Troubled Asset Relief Program shares as it waits to close its sale to MB Financial (MBFI).

JPMorgan Chase said that the Justice Department is conducting at least eight separate investigations into the bank's activities, ranging from recruitment in Asia to its relationship with Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff.

Stopping a proposed requirement that banks offer "plain-vanilla" credit products was an industry victory in the run-up to Dodd-Frank, but many believe it still survived.

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

Thirty U.S. financial institutions on Friday received a new batch of instructions to perform their annual stress test exercise next year, the Federal Reserve Board said. Unlike last year, however, the Fed added a few changes given its ongoing concern tied to securities financing transactions.

The head of the state bank supervisors' group said he sees a quiet push to "reform our regulatory structure to better reflect the business models of our largest banks."

The New York branch of Pakistani firm United Bank Limited has been ordered to strengthen oversight of its international remittance services to better comply with federal anti-money-laundering regulations.

We should think twice before cutting off access to alternative lenders that serve as a last resort for millions of low-income Americans. We should also encourage banks to remove the barriers for these customers when they want to open a savings account.

Fannie Mae filed an estimated $800 million lawsuit against nine banks for allegedly manipulating benchmark interest rates - including Libor, which is used to set global interest rates on financial products such as credit cards and mortgages.

Recent Fed chairman have embroiled themselves far too deeply into White House and congressional politics.

One of the main promises of the 2009 credit card reform law was that clearer disclosures to consumers would prompt them to make more prudent financial decisions.

As the U.S. adoption of EMV-chip cards encounters legal roadblocks and merchant opposition, critics have questioned whether the card networks' October 2015 deadline is overly aggressive.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released Hudson Valley Bank in Yonkers, N.Y., from a 2012 enforcement action.