Law and regulation

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., John McCain, R-Ariz., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Angus Kin, I-Maine proposed a bill that would reinstate the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, and analysts believe the legislation will not pass Congress.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took seven enforcement actions and freed 13 banks from orders in June, according to a list of regulatory actions released Friday.

State laws requiring money-transmitter licenses have raised the barriers to entry for startups trying to compete with banks and entrenched companies like PayPal. But by keeping out smaller, more nimble payments companies, state regulators could affect the banking industry's long-term innovation and growth.

Richard Whiting, executive director and general counsel of the Financial Services Roundtable, has announced he will step down early next year.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will be losing one of its top economists at the end of the month, according to an internal agency memo.

Visa Inc., which operates the world's biggest electronic-payments network, was sued by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Asda unit, William Morrison Supermarkets Plc and Arcadia Group Plc over payment-processing fees.

New York financial regulator Benjamin Lawsky is joining the crackdown on the collection industry, proposing new rules that would tighten record-keeping requirements and other collection practices for banks and third-party debt buyers.

The conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac late Thursday announced an $885 million settlement with UBS Americas of charges that the firm misrepresented the quality of private-label mortgage-backed securities Fannie and Freddie bought during the housing boom.

New York financial regulator Benjamin Lawsky has proposed rules that would require improved record keeping and overhaul other practices at banks and third-party debt collectors.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has joined the call to bring back a Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking, but enactment of her legislative proposal is highly unlikely.

The Federal Reserve Board's yearly stress-test exercise will be broadened next year to include 11 more bank holding companies.

Bankers have been seeking more leeway on loan workouts with recent graduates struggling to make their payments. The federal banking agencies responded Thursday, but not in the way the industry had hoped.

Payroll card provider ADP is updating its technology to provide greater visibility into users' financial health at a time when payroll cards face fresh scrutiny over costs to users.

MasterCard Inc., in a conference call today to discuss the European Commission's proposal to cut card fees paid by retailers, says it supports increasing competition but warns the proposed regulation could have unintended consequences.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a co-author of housing finance legislation, urged the House and Senate to pass their bills that offer different replacements for Fannie and Freddie. The bills can be reconciled in negotiations later, he said.

Governments need to consider the advantages of a good bank-bad bank restructuring while loan assets currently have determinable and probably higher values than earlier in the crisis.

Officials with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a Maine state regulator said they would look into more stringent disclosure requirements and other measures for payday loan-type products.

New York Private Bank & Trust, the parent company of Emigrant Bank, has fully repaid its Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

Carol Galante, the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, told lawmakers discussing broad reforms to the housing agency that more targeted action is needed in the short term to repair the FHA's reverse mortgage program.

Gayle Manchin has been elected to serve on the board of MVB Financial, the Fairmont, W.Va., bank, it announced Monday. Her husband, Joe Manchin, was West Virginia governor from 2005 through 2010 and is now the state's junior U.S. senator.