Law and regulation

Bank trading revenues jumped to $7.5 billion in the first quarter, marking the fourth highest level on record, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Friday.

A final rule was released late Thursday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency extending the deadline for banks to comply with a requirement that limits credit exposure per customer.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has charged nine former directors of Southern Community Bank in Fayetteville, Ga., with approving risky loans that later led to its collapse in 2009.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is accusing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of breaking the law in collecting detailed information on individual credit-card accounts.

American Express Co. named McKesson Corp.’s Jeffrey C. Campbell as chief financial officer.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a final rule late Thursday that extends the deadline for banks to comply with a requirement that limits credit exposure per customer.

Fonetic, a Spanish company that provides speech analytics and voice recording software for compliance purposes, arrived on Wall Street Thursday.

The most aggressive enforcer of federal sanctions law may now be New York State. At home and overseas, this could cause a lot of people a lot of problems.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on June 27 for North Carolina congressman Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Freddie Mac plans to eliminate a $7,500 annual low-activity fee that has met with a backlash among rural banks that sell a small number of loans each year to the government-sponsored enterprise.

According to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, several critical rules under the Dodd-Frank Act will be released in the upcoming months.

White House efforts to promote voluntary sharing of information about cyber threats among banks represent "an important step" but a presidential directive cannot substitute for a law, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said.

It is time to put an end to the misuse of companies to evade taxes and advance criminal purposes.

The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced companies' power to funnel legal disputes into arbitration, ruling in favor of American Express Co. in an antitrust clash with retailers over the credit cards they must accept.

New York regulators announced a $250 million settlement Thursday with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi-UFJ (BTMU) for violating United States sanctions against countries including Iran, Sudan and Myanmar.

The Corker-Warner bill would require private investors to take 10% of losses before federal mortgage guarantees kick in. More research is needed to determine whether that’s enough protection for taxpayers.

Banks will have to scrutinize their relationships with consultants, brace for the possibility of a wave of regulation of consulting practices and have backup plans in case a key advisor ever receives a punishment like the one New York state dealt Deloitte.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray defended the agency's new mortgage rules, data gathering activities and single-director leadership structure during a luncheon speech on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that regulators are making steady progress on a number of critical rules under the Dodd-Frank Act, predicting that several final rules will be released in the coming months.

Regulators have published the latest catalog of places outside metropolitan areas where lending will earn banks credit toward their Community Reinvestment Act obligations.