Law and regulation

At a confirmation vote on Tuesday morning, the Senate Banking Committee was split down party lines in support of Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The panel voted in favor of Mary Jo White to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, with only one vote against her nomination.

Genesco's $13 million lawsuit against Visa Inc., filed last week in a Tennessee court, has a similar ring to it as a countersuit Cisero's Ristorante and Nightclub in Park City, Utah filed last year against its acquiring bank and processor.

Mary Jo White, Obama's nominee to head the SEC, received near-unanimous support from the Senate Banking Committee during a vote Tuesday morning, while backing for Richard Cordray, director of the CFPB, was split as expected along party lines.

Rewriting the longstanding structures of corporate law and the roles and responsibilities of bank boards could create chaos in the global corporate and financial structures.

The London Whale, the attorney general's "too big to jail" bombshell and stress test failures have all added to the calls for big banks to split up. For the first time since the financial crisis, shotgun breakups are becoming a very real possibility.

There's an emerging bipartisan consensus on the way forward for the secondary mortgage market. But as Congress has punted, the FHFA is taking significant steps without hearings or public discussion.

Equifax Information Services agreed to pay nearly $400,000 to settle charges the company sold lists of millions of consumers who were late on their mortgages.

While the federal government's in a cost-cutting mood, electronic payment providers are actively promoting their wares to the agencies and companies affected by the new constraints.

A bill by Minnesota's Rep. Keith Ellison would cap the mortgage interest deduction at the first $500,000 of a home loan and use the anticipated savings to invest in low- and moderate-income housing.

WASHINGTON — The federal bank regulators on Monday proposed several revisions to their guidance for complying with Community Reinvestment Act regulations.

Rep. Mel Watt is said to be on the shortlist to serve as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but it remains to be seen if he or any nominee can survive the Senate confirmation process.

A levy assessed on bank customers for their savings — as is being proposed in the Cyprus bailout — seems unimaginable in the U.S., yet may stoke bank runs in Europe and elsewhere.

If done right, the Fed's stress tests will motivate a renaissance in enterprise risk assessment, breaking the black box and bringing needed transparency to banks' exposures.

Bankers who were at last week's convention are considering ways to expand social media use and offer new products that will not run afoul of regulators.

Capital requirements for community banks should be raised outside of the Basel III process and through a much more simplified system of risk-weighted assets.

Three things are driving the growth of large banks: market demand, access to capital and regulatory burden created by existing and forthcoming legislation.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has terminated a consent order issued to Saehan Bank (SAEB) in Los Angeles.

The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions Division of Consumer Services is warning consumers about scammers targeting consumers with bogus collection calls.

Arguably the most important point of a Senate hearing investigating JPMorgan's Whale trades was the picture that emerged of a bank that didn't understand its risks and a regulator that couldn't keep up either.

Landmark Credit Union may buy Hartford Savings Bank in Wisconsin, the National Credit Union Administration board decided Thursday.