Law and regulation

IMGCAP(1)]

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Credit unions have joined community banks with the common thought that they should not be subject to CFPB regulations.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo said Friday that he was still concerned about ongoing risks from banks' potential overreliance on short-term wholesale funding, but suggested one possible remedy: higher capital requirements.

U.S. prosecutors are pursuing guilty pleas, criminal convictions and "significant monetary penalties" from banks and their employees in the global investigation into the rigging of benchmark interest rates, a senior Justice Department official said.

Experts say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau backed away from stiffer requirements after two powerful consumer groups raised fears that they would drive small banks and credit unions out of the remittance business.

The House banking panel is scheduled to consider a host of derivatives bills next week, a debate that could spur momentum in the charge to amend some of the Dodd-Frank law's provisions.

Groups opposing the Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. multibillion-dollar settlement of swipe-fee price-fixing claims won't be held in contempt by a federal judge for failing to fully correct websites he found misleading.

The Texas Bankers Association has selected Ignacio Urrabazo, the chief executive of Commerce Bank in Laredo, to become its new chairman.

Finding the right pay formula is a messy business. Leave it to shareholders and the market to sort out.

More lenders are willing to make second-lien loans because of hot demand and greater yield, even as regulators warn against risks in the leveraged-lending market.

Sometimes the line between prudent bank security and excessive caution is a blurry one. The Onion offers some unique ways to protect your bank data, including beating your computer to bits with a pipe wrench.

Qiwi Plc, an instant-payment operator, is seeking to raise as much as $244 million selling shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the second initial public offering by a Russian company this year.

President Obama has nominated Penny Pritzker to head the Commerce Department, overlooking her role in the costly failure of Superior Bank.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is receiving slack from U.S. payday lenders after a recent report concluded the industry "traps consumers in a cycle of debt," writes American Banker's Kevin Wack.

The agencies appear to be at loggerheads over a final Basel III deal, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. pushing for a higher leverage ratio but facing resistance from the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Federal Reserve Board has hit a Wisconsin bank with an enforcement action, while lifting actions against two others.

U.S. payday lenders are lashing out at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the wake of a report that concluded the industry traps consumers in a cycle of debt.

A Congressional Budget Office report commissioned by Democrats concludes that principal reductions in modifications of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would achieve more success if eligibility of the Home Affordable Modification Program were widened.

Heartland will use Ingenico's software and experience with EMV-chip cards to help deliver new terminals and PIN pads in the U.S. as the country migrates to the EMV standard for payment cards.