Law and regulation

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.

The banking industry must create sustainable mortgage products that will work for responsible families of modest means. We also need a proactive homeownership policy from the federal government.

Margin compression once again overpowered loan growth in the first quarter, sapping banks’ traditional source of revenue.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a court order to the alternative payment provider Dwolla to cease operations with Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange, which it accuses of operating as an unlicensed money transmitter.

The heart of the issue is not who holds what titles, but whether a company’s governance processes are functioning as they should.

A modified version of Ed DeMarco’s securities-based model for housing finance reform could promote an active market for risk-sharing arrangements and further reduce systemic risk by distributing credit risk broadly.

State regulators seized a third bank unit of Capitol Bancorp., $31.6 million-asset Central Arizona Bank in Scottsdale, Ariz, in a rare Tuesday failure.

Top Federal Reserve Board officials appear to have reached a consensus on how to deal with the "too big to fail" dilemma: wait for the current reform process to play out, but be ready to significantly increase capital standards if the problem remains unsolved.