Law and regulation

Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, is urging Chairman Jeb Hensarling to reverse his decision not to allow Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to testify later this month on the agency's semi-annual report.

Banking analysts, former regulators, lawmakers, banking industry representatives and top academics spent more than an hour and a half debating how best to resolve the issue of "too big to fail" on Tuesday, and came away with no easy solutions.

Republican senators accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday of invading consumers' privacy while gathering massive amounts of data from financial companies.

Banks' ability to provide crucial services in support of economic growth reflect their risk-bearing capacity, which is directly related to market valuations of bank franchises.

The House Financial Services Committee will not accept testimony from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on the agency's semi-annual, according to Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. The chairman argues that Cordray was not legally appointed to the position.

A survey released Tuesday by SAI Global Compliance shows that financial service companies are dedicating a growing portion of their software budget to regulatory compliance.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law, recently announced that it was restructuring the agency to establish a new office to deal with financial institutions and their trade groups.

American Express Co. is issuing EMV chip-and-signature cards to its corporate card customers in the U.S. starting in the first half of 2013.

Hundreds of thousands of homes are being withheld from the market, raising questions about whether the recent run-up in housing prices is artificial.

The New York State General Assembly this week passed the Consumer Credit Fairness Act designed to curb abusive debt collection lawsuits.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and David Vitter, R-La., speaking at a forum co-hosted by American Banker, hinted at several potential changes from a draft copy of the legislation that was leaked to the media earlier this month.

Ahmanson had seen men get rich by focusing on the government's priorities. Now it wanted homes and mortgages. He would build a business to meet this demand.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and some dispensaries enjoy millions of dollars in annual sales. However, such establishments may not be ideal clients for ISOs unless they and their sale agents exercise caution, say those who work with the medical marijuana industry.

Ian Hermon, product marketing manager at Plantation, Fla.-based Thales e-Security Inc. spoke to PaymentsSource about the obstacles and options facing the U.S. payments industry during its multiyear migration to EMV cards.

An Australian telecommunications company created a phony collection firm that sent letters to consumers and operated a sham complaints hotline, according to the Federal Court of Australia.

Hundreds of protestors showed up at the home of Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, calling for an end to his tenure with an already penned resignation letter awaiting his signature.

Rep Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the panel will not accept testimony from CFPB Director Richard Cordray on the agency's semi-annual report, arguing that he was not legally appointed to the position.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke will be missing at this year's Jackson Hole symposium due to a personal scheduling conflict, a Fed spokesman said Monday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Monday that it was restructuring the agency to add an office that will directly deal with financial institutions and their trade groups.

Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest such institution in the U.S., is unlikely to be designated systemically important, according to a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.