Law and regulation

Ineffective regulation creates a false sense of confidence that causes people and markets to be less diligent than they otherwise would be.

Virtual Piggy, which provides alternative payments for minors, plans to repeat its promotional partnership with the online community Gaia Online.

The United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has accredited Payleven, a mobile payments acceptance company, as a payments institution. Payleven is also now part of MasterCard’s mPOS program.

The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 was created to solve the problems revealed by the financial crisis. It placed enormous power into the hands of the federal banking agencies. Since the reform law was created, little has been done to restore the public's confidence in the government's ability to police the financial system.

The Federal Reserve Board is getting ready to take a statistical snapshot of Americans' spending and saving.

The Dodd-Frank Act put enormous power into the federal banking agencies' hands, but 32 months later regulators have done little to restore confidence.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has terminated its regulatory action against HomeStreet in Seattle.

Restricting the use of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities in computing the LCR may raise mortgage costs and negatively impact banks' ability to manage liquidity risk.

Credit lines and expanded overdraft programs are being considered as alternatives for banks that want to curb their customers' use of payday loans.

New Community Reinvestment Act guidelines will reduce paperwork burdens, open up new areas for assistance and make clear that banks falling short will hurt their overall lending test performance.

Chris Larsen has spent several decades in the financial services industry, playing a key leadership role at disruptive companies E-Loan and Prosper, where he had to navigate a tricky and fast-evolving regulatory obstacle course. He will likely draw upon these skills again in his latest role as CEO of OpenCoin.

Consumers filed 159 Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits in February, up 87% from 85 in February 2012. Year-to-date, TCPA cases are up 105%.

The U.S. Treasury was unprepared and disengaged in two rushed Troubled Asset Relief Program bankruptcy sales. It's a foreboding sign for the remaining $6.6 billion the government has tied up in Tarp.

In an abrupt policy announcement, the Federal Housing Finance Agency declared Tuesday plans to ban force-placed insurance commissions even before its own industry review is complete.

A unit of Fentura Financial (FETM) in Fenton, Mich., has been freed from a regulatory order from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the State of Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.

An effective bail-in regime increases the government's ability to impose losses on debtholders and a lower probability of systemic support could increase bank funding costs.

The guessing game has already begun over the successor to Sen. Tim Johnson as chairman of the Banking Committee.

Congress and regulators are listening. Silence among big bank representatives can be viewed as a green light to pass legislation that limits the size of their financial institutions.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated an enforcement action against East Dubuque Bancshares in Illinois and its bank.

Bankers these days face the prospect of getting penalized for everything from "disparate impact" to the actions of auto dealers and other third-party partners. That raises the question of whether such regulation is effective, enforceable or fair.