Law and regulation

Bankers defended force-placed insurance practices and dodged questions about alleged industry kickbacks and price gouging at a private but well-attended meeting hosted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The nation's highest court is expected to announce Monday whether it will hear arguments in a case with the potential to dramatically lower banks' exposure to allegations of lending discrimination.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein backed Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. efforts, mandated under the Dodd-Frank Act, to create a rule for orderly closures of big firms.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lost more than a dozen senior officials in recent months, raising concerns whether the agency will be able to maintain the aggressive pace set during its nearly two years of existence.

Visa Inc. sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a bid to stop the world's largest retailer from filing a lawsuit to press price-fixing claims over merchant swipe fees.

Federal regulators must not rely on standard measures of differences between outcome rates without considering the way those measures change simply because the frequency of an outcome changes.

NewBridge Bancorp (NBBC) in Greensboro, N.C., is acquiring a cash-strapped mutual at the behest of state regulators.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren voiced concerns Thursday about the regulatory burden facing community banks, asking whether the industry needs a two-tiered system of rules to keep the smallest institutions from being wiped out.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a training guide titled "Money Smart for Older Adults" to help banks, law enforcement and advocates of senior citizens deliver tips to older adults on preventing exploitation.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said regulators will not shy away from using their new "orderly liquidation authority" in the next crisis.

Despite opposition by the White House and Democrats, the House panel passed several derivatives bills that would modify provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Bankers and regulators may need to study the barriers of entry into banking just as seriously as the NFL and Major League Baseball consider new franchises for football and baseball.

American Airlines parent company AMR Corp. intends to continue its affinity credit card relationship with Citibank, according to its revised plan to emerge from bankruptcy and merge with US Airways.

The Federal Reserve has taken action against one bank (Northwestern Bancorp in Traverse City, Mich.) and lifted an order on another (Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is shedding senior officials faster than it can replace them, raising concerns that the agency will no longer be able to maintain the aggressive pace set during its nearly two years of existence.

Bankers, nonprofit executives and others recently gathered to discuss how best to provide financial services to low-income and other underserved customers. Here is some of their advice about how to charge for prepaid cards and other products, how to create new ones and how to cope with increased regulatory scrutiny.

Regulators can use the power of Big Data mining and pattern-matching algorithms to seek out triggers of contagion across an interconnected financial system.

Some banks have transformed their loan portfolios with a focus on business borrowers, and made strides in profitability at the same time.

European Union antitrust regulators invited comments on Visa Europe Ltd.’s offer to cut “significantly” the fees it sets for processing cross-border credit-card payments in a bid to end an EU antitrust probe.

Citizens Bank of Kansas in Kingman has traded in its national charter for a state charter.