Law and regulation

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.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said it's under federal criminal investigation for practices tied to sales of mortgage-backed bonds that the Justice Department has already concluded broke civil laws.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said the Justice Department concluded the firm broke federal laws while handling mortgage-backed securities.

Kentucky First Federal Bancorp (KFFB) in Hazard has received regulatory approval to pay a 10-cent dividend to its public shareholders.

Pressure is mounting for bank regulators to dial back pending mortgage rules after President Obama said he's worried the housing market could become too constrained by "overlapping regulations."

A federal judge ruled that bitcoins are “a currency or form of money” and therefore subject to relevant U.S. laws in a case against a Texas man accused of creating a fraudulent Bitcoin hedge fund.

Meracord is allowing businesses to leverage its money transmitter platform and state license portfolio, a move to help startups navigate the complex and expensive regulatory environment surrounding transmitting funds.

Freddie Mac's top lawyer threatened to file suit against municipalities that attempt to use eminent domain to refinance underwater mortgages.

Even as policymakers plot its demise, Fannie is raising the prices it pays to community lenders for mortgage loans — outbidding large-bank aggregators like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.

In a Web chat with Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, Obama said he'll urge Congress to act on a reform package to wind down Fannie and Freddie and place housing on a "more stable footing," but also give homeowners "a chance to refinance while interest rates are still low."

Bankers are pressing ahead with sales of nonperforming commercial loans, and debt collectors are buying them up, even though regulatory pressure has slowed or halted the unloading of bad consumer loans.

As Congress struggles to determine the appropriate role for government in the mortgage market, affordable housing may prove a politically charged hurdle on the path to reform.

The decline of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could usher in a mortgage renaissance for community banks facilitated by their natural partner, the Federal Home Loan Bank System.