Law and regulation

Bank of Wausau was shut down by Wisconsin regulators Friday.

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

EMV chips improve security over magnetic-stripe cards, but they have not been easy to implement. Years ago, a Forrester analyst said "the U.S. is going to adopt EMV in about the same way the U.S. adopted the metric system — somewhere between kicking and screaming and not at all." What have been the biggest hurdles?

A search committee has been assigned to find a successor for Sandra Pianalto, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, who plans to retire next year.

The Hill newspaper has named 18 of Washington's biggest power brokers who are most likely to influence financial policy decisions related to the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act this fall.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice have launched an investigation into PNC Financial Services for possible discrimination on the pricing of certain mortgages.

The Hill newspaper named 18 insiders likely to influence efforts in the coming weeks related to the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, CFPB Director Richard Cordray and CBA President Richard Hunt.

As the pace of the GSE reform efforts appears to be quickening, we offer the following frequently asked questions about what the Obama administration wants, widening Democratic support for a bill, and when GSE reform is likely to happen.

Government debt and other "safe" assets are still plentiful, but the huge demand for Treasuries and other risk-free securities in light of new capital and liquidity rules has sparked concern about their long-term availability.

Regulators are examining loans originated by National City, which PNC bought in 2008, suggesting they might have been priced to have a "disparate impact" on minority borrowers.

ATM operators have a lot at stake in the fallout of a federal judge's ruling last week that the Federal Reserve Board needs to review the debit fee caps and network routing mandates set under the Durbin amendment.

Fox Chase Bancorp (FXCB) in Hatboro, Pa., wants to discard its federal thrift charter.

PNC Financial Services got a U.S. subpoena tied to foreclosure expenses on federally backed home loans and said two agencies are investigating whether its mortgages were unfairly priced.

After President Obama's comment regarding the housing market becoming constrained with regulations, bank regulators may start to feel the pressure to ease back on pending mortgage rules.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should further narrow the circumstances in which Fannie or Freddie can make a lender repurchase a loan. This would encourage lending and strengthen the recovery.

Regulators are pressuring banks to serve as deputies in their crackdown on online payday lenders. It's part of a broader push in which government authorities are holding bankers accountable for the activities of the third parties with which they do business. American Banker staffers discuss what’s at stake for the industry.

Now the pressure is on banks to develop creative new products and services and work harder to show their value.

Fannie Mae, the mortgage financier seized by U.S. regulators in 2008, will pay the Treasury Department $10.2 billion after reporting its sixth consecutive quarterly profit on continued recovery in the housing market.

A debt collector in Shavertown, Pa. faces a felony count mail fraud charge after federal prosecutors allege he collected more than $23,000 from a client before closing up shop without working to settle the client's debt.

Launched in April 2010, Think Computer Corp.'s FaceCash application signed up 25 Bay Area merchants and 500 consumers to use its novel technology, which combined mobile bar code scanning and photo identification. Then regulators put it out of business.