Law and regulation

If you stop by bar Room77 in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood for a beer, you can leave the euros in your wallet and instead pay with the digital currency Bitcoin—a growing phenomenon in Germany and other countries that are changing their views on the currency.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. may settle regulators' probes into the bank's credit-card debt collection practices and sales of identity-theft products as early as next week.

Filmmaker Jim Bruce has produced a devastating documentary that uses Fed veterans, such as Peter Fisher, to explain how the central bank pumps up asset bubbles.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. may settle regulators’ probes into the bank’s credit-card debt collection practices and sales of identity-theft products as early as next week, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Financial institutions are required to thoroughly "know" their customers and vet transactions for potential criminal connections in a way that other critical service industries are not. (Imagine an electric company quizzing its customers about what appliances they plug into the wall.) Ellen Zimiles, a former assistant U.S. attorney who now heads the global investigations and compliance practice at Navigant Consulting, explains why banks have been given special responsibilities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is urging banks to strengthen their oversight of the home appraisal process and warning them to keep an eye out for a sudden spike in delinquencies on home-equity loans.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sought to allay lender fears Wednesday about the agency's new mortgage rules, pledging to be flexible with companies struggling to comply by the January deadline.

Banks need to revamp customer service operations so unhappy consumers complain to them rather than to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where a complaint could spark added regulatory scrutiny.

Responding to potential enforcement actions has become even more challenging because the number of agencies with concurrent jurisdiction has increased, and the authorities of those agencies have been broadened.

The city of Richmond, Calif., is pushing forward with its plan to rescue underwater homeowners by buying their mortgages, and is leaving open the possibility of using eminent-domain to acquire loans that banks will not sell.

Ten Federal Housing Administration lenders could be facing hefty penalties from the government following an investigation into their underwriting practices, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general.

Some mortgage experts are criticizing a recent rule change by the Federal Housing Administration that would allow borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure or a short sale to qualify for a new mortgage in as little as a year.

Knee-jerk regulations passed in crisis moments can do more harm than good, but all regulation is a static framework applied to an ongoing, dynamic market. The tensions created are inevitable.

Regional lenders including Fifth Third Bancorp and BB&T Corp. are rooting for the Federal Reserve to let interest rates rise, a move that could help their results more than at some of the biggest Wall Street firms.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are urging the Federal Housing Administration to change an employment eligibility requirement for borrowers looking to modify their mortgages.

The Justice Department has entered talks with federal agencies and banking regulators to clear the way for marijuana dispensaries to obtain banking services, a top U.S. official said.

Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said Tuesday that she is preparing to unveil an alternative housing finance reform proposal to rival more conservative legislation backed by many House Republicans.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. resisted big-bank pressure to overhaul a rule, issued Tuesday, that clarified that U.S. bank deposits held in a foreign branch do not receive FDIC insurance, even if they can be withdrawn in the U.S.

The 12 Federal Reserve district banks warned of mounting threats to the U.S. payment system such as fraud, and called for streamlining transactions from the point of payment to the point of receipt.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be increasing the availability of loans to the most underserved segment of the market: the small rental properties across the country that are naturally affordable.