Law and regulation

Raj Date, the former deputy director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has started a bank advisory firm that will focus on consumer finance issues, including assisting mergers and acquisitions through private equity partnerships.

Poorly written regulations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are at the crux of a force-placed insurance fight between lenders and homeowners, federal judges declared at a hearing earlier this month.

Scott Alvarez, the Federal Reserve Board's general counsel, told lawmakers that the Fed's use of special Dodd-Frank powers to take apart banks that are a "grave threat" to the economy would likely depend on the circumstances of each situation.

Community bankers sounded more warnings about the Dodd-Frank reform law and proposed Basel III requirements on Tuesday, including how new rules will impact the housing market.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has offered clarifications to the mortgage rules first issued in January.

Sen. Shelby introduced a bill on Tuesday to delay implementation of Basel III while House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling declared the package of capital and liquidity standards "suspect."

Community banks spent $250 million and more than 8 million hours on regulation implemented during the first quarter, a recent study found.

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday issued a proposal required under the Dodd-Frank Act that would impose a fee on the biggest bank holding companies. The fee will cover expenses related to the regulators' supervisory duties.

Companies that submitted initial resolution plans last year to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. under Dodd-Frank have been offered more detailed instructions for when they submit their second drafts of their living wills.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed slight tweaks to help clarify mortgage rules first issued in January.

Publication of the Fed's loss estimates, required by Dodd-Frank, has banks focused on second-guessing the regulator's model, rather than the hard work of improving enterprise risk management.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg said regulators are homing in on concerns expressed by community banks in discussions on finalizing the capital rule.

The most notable quotes from American Banker stories of the previous week. Readers are encouraged to add their own observations in the Comments fields at the bottom of each slide.

New York Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit Monday against Union Workers Credit Services Inc. for false advertising and deceptive business practices from their solicitations for a pre-approved credit card.

Regulators may fault JPMorgan Chase (JPM) for failing to conduct sufficient due diligence into accounts held by the investment firm of disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff, Reuters reported Monday.

Companies that submitted initial resolution plans last year to the Fed and FDIC under Dodd-Frank must detail in their second drafts how they would address impediments to a wind-down and follow the series of steps required for bankruptcy.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's effort to gain enforcement authority over bank consultants has sparked objections from contractors who argue the agency's move threatens their independence.

Activists staged a tax-time protest against big banks that used an adaptation of the classic video game "Space Invaders."

Lawmakers have a busy schedule this week with several hearings on a variety of issues, including the independent foreclosure review and "too big to fail."

Policymakers clearly don't want to harm small banks, but it's difficult to see how they can insulate us from the macroeconomic effects of some of the proposals being considered.