Law and regulation

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.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused 18 former officers and directors of the parent company of Midwest Bank with reckless practices that led to the Chicago-area bank's failure during the financial crisis.

Small banks are pushing to be exempted from what they call an unneeded and overly burdensome data-collection effort to spot how consumers may be abused by checking account overdraft fees and other charges.

A pair of longtime foes, community banks and credit unions, oppose CFPB rules and — gasp — are even willing to team up in lobbying for exemptions.

Accounting rules require banks to drain reserves when loan losses are low and build them up when problems abound, amplifying booms and busts. Allowing a long-run view of losses in setting reserves would improve financial stability.

Regulators in Massachusetts ordered a Nevada-based collection agency and its owner to immediately stop collecting payments on more than 100 illegal loans made to consumers in the state.

President Obama has nominated Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Editors discuss why the move has little chance of winning Congressional approval and is emblematic of Washington's housing reform dilemma.

Rep. Mel Watt will likely face an uphill to win confirmation as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but nominating him has other advantages in the debate over long term mortgage policy.

Sen. Tim Johnson, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have remained mum over the renewed push to end "too big to fail", which has garnered attention recently from prominent lawmakers, regulators and pundits.

The consensus in Washington is that "more needs to be done" to end "too big to fail," but the bulk of the reforms Congress and the Basel Committee adopted in the wake of the 2008 crisis have yet to be adopted. So no one truly knows if we've done "enough" yet.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just can't wait for Edward DeMarco's reign at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to end.

National Mortgage Insurance is upending the traditional business model by underwriting every single loan it insures and promising not to ask lenders to pay claims on defaulted loans if the borrower had made 18 months of consecutive payments.

Regions Financial in Birmingham, Ala., is taking steps to conform its capital to evolving regulatory requirements.

President Obama is expected to nominate Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., on Wednesday to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to sources, a move that is likely to spark a fierce confirmation battle.

The debate over "too big to fail" has attracted unprecedented attention in the last few months from prominent lawmakers, regulators and pundits, but both Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, two key players, remain on the sidelines.