Law and regulation

Tim Ryan, a veteran lobbyist who runs JPMorgan Chase's regulatory strategy, served until January as chief executive of SIFMA, which moved last week to stop the sending of vote tallies to shareholders.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's focus on discrimination in the auto loan business will likely force the banks it targets to stop paying bonuses to car dealers that originate high-interest loans. Changing practices in the rest of the industry could prove tougher.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is bringing the battle over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau back to the forefront next week with a long-awaited confirmation vote on Richard Cordray, the agency's director.

Federal Reserve Gov. Sarah Bloom Raskin warned Thursday that the government's tightening fiscal policies and a slow housing recovery will continue to restrain a U.S. economic recovery.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is seeking to recover $48 million from officers and directors of a Florida bank that collapsed in 2010 following heavy defaults on commercial real estate loans.

JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and the world's largest banks won rollbacks in final Dodd-Frank Act rules that promise to transform the private swaps market by increasing competition.

The Treasury Department has moved to rein in Mt. Gox, the world’s largest exchange for the all-digital currency Bitcoin. The move raises the specter that the government is intent on eliminating anonymous Bitcoin transactions, which could dramatically reduce the currency’s allure to many users.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sat silently at a public hearing as a room full of the industry's customers and employees argued that Americans should be allowed to make their own borrowing choices.

When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, one of its provisions banned outright bounties that that mortgage lenders had formerly paid to brokers for steering borrowers toward high-interest rate loans.

The common-sense steps taken in the bill will help even the playing field between community banks and big financial firms.

A move by the U.S. government to rein in the unregulated use of Bitcoin involved the seizure of a Japanese company's account at Wells Fargo (WFC).

Consumer advocates believe the bounties banks pay to car dealers for steering customers to high-interest loans are abusive. But with a ban likely to spark a political backlash, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is instead seeking to prove the markups are discriminatory.

The Senate will hold a vote to confirm Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sometime next week.

Lawmakers in both chambers are working to pass a major farm bill that will determine agricultural policy for the next five years, legislation that could have implications for rural lenders.

A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center released Tuesday said that "single point of entry" resolutions, a strategy favored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., are a viable option to solve the "too big to fail" problem.

Top Federal Reserve Board officials, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, believe it is best to carry out the current reform process to solve the "too big to fail" issue, but are ready to significantly increase capital standards if the problem persists.

In a speech Wednesday, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg moved closer to the views of other top officials who have already backed a higher ratio, and provided an update on global coordination of resolution plans.

Central Arizona Bank, a unit of Capitol Bancorp, was set to be shut down with two sister banks last Friday, but a legal challenge bought it a few extra days.

Attorney General Eric Holder tried on Wednesday to walk back earlier comments that some financial institutions are "too big to jail" during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Wednesday that the chamber will hold a vote to confirm Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sometime next week.