Law and regulation

The Online Lenders Alliance wants the group that manages a U.S. payment system to clarify warnings on illegal use of the network by payday-loan firms, saying the message is posing a threat to legitimate business.

In a sit-down interview with American Banker, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray discussed his Senate confirmation, qualified mortgages, and the future challenges that the agency may face.

Delmar Bancorp is giving up a 40% stake in itself to an outside investor, who will cancel Tarp shares he won in a Treasury auction. The investor will also invest cash and forgive unpaid Tarp dividends.

Reports of suspected fraud received by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network fell by 25% last year, to just under 70,000, according to the regulator's report on fraud filings for 2012, released Tuesday.

A new Baltimore federal court filing shows that more than $2.9 million was seized by the Department of Homeland Security from Mutum Sigillum LLC, a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, in May.

Basel's barely noticed, but important paper on how to measure banks' equity-investments-in-funds risk signals its strong concern with how banks are interconnected to shadow financial firms.

In his first sit-down interview with American Banker since winning Senate confirmation last month, CFPB Director Richard Cordray talks about what he sees as the agency's top accomplishments to date and its biggest challenges ahead.

President Obama held a meeting Monday with financial regulators to discuss the implementation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Executives at Evolve Bank & Trust invest in technology to handle commissions and other accounting for mortgages due to stiffer regulatory requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act.

President Obama held a private meeting with financial regulators on Monday to discuss ongoing implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, emphasizing the need to finalize additional rules quickly.

U.S. regulators have only marginally improved upon the European version of Basel III.

Community bankers must adjust to new mortgage rules the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued on Thursday.

Doreen Eberley, the director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Division of Risk Management Supervision, says examiners are more sensitive today to risks that are not obvious on a bank's balance sheet and that banks need to scrutinize an ever-changing landscape of new products.

While some Bitcoin businesses hesitate to respond to the evolving regulatory framework surrounding digital currency, Robert Pargac, director of global investigations and compliance at Navigant Consulting, says Bitcoin businesses should stay proactive and aggressive in their approach to risk and compliance.

Community banks are looking at ways to keep making mortgages despite added regulation, rising rates and a shrinking refinance market.

Large bank holding companies that underwent stress-testing by the Federal Reserve Board have improved their capital planning but must correct several shortcomings soon, the agency warned in a paper released Monday.

Since bursting onto the financial regulatory scene two years ago, Benjamin Lawsky has fined banks hundreds of millions of dollars over money-laundering allegations, temporarily banned big consultants from operating in his state, shaken up the force-placed insurance market and clamped down on payday lenders. In the process, New York State's Superintendent of Financial Services has sometimes stepped on the toes of fellow regulators. Following are quotes from a wide-ranging interview that National Editor Maria Aspan conducted recently with the 43-year-old former prosecutor and longtime aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The German Finance Minister has ruled that Bitcoin is a “currency unit” and a form of “private money," and that the digital currency's users should pay sales tax as well as capital gains tax, Ars Technica reported on Aug. 18.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ignoring billions of dollars in potential losses on delinquent loans as they take three years to adopt a new accounting system, a government auditor said in a letter made public today.

A panel of judges in California has ruled that a lawsuit against a collection agency brought by the Kern County (California) district attorney can proceed after the agency previously won a dismissal in a lower court.