Law and regulation

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that policymakers continue to face a significant number of headwinds that have stalled often "forceful" efforts by the central bank to jump start an economic recovery.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will require some mortgage servicers to develop general plans for avoiding complications arising from the transfer of servicing rights.

President Obama has given just three official State of the Union addresses (and one unofficial one in 2009), but bank policy has been a sizable part of them, particularly in the early part of his presidency. With the next State of the Union scheduled for Tuesday evening, we look at Obama's past rhetoric against big banks as well as policy proposals and how they fared.

Individuals who blew the whistle on a mortgage fraud scheme that ended up costing JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $296 million in fines have about three months to prove that their information helped lead to the settlement with federal regulators.

Karen Mills is stepping down as the head of the Small Business Administration. On her watch the agency supported $106 billion of loans to small businesses, including a record $30.5 billion in fiscal year 2011.

Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., plans to offer legislation aimed at reducing the size of "too-big-to-fail" banks by requiring them to hold more capital including long-term debt.

Most of the losses banks have caused and suffered could be greatly reduced or eliminated without relying on complex regulations and elaborate risk management. Just promulgate and enforce one simple rule: we tolerate no lying.

Ally Financial, the second-largest remaining investment by the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, will repay the U.S. by 2014 on the strength of its auto-finance business, CEO Michael Carpenter said.

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House Republicans are expected to once again push for repeal of the FDIC's orderly liquidation authority outlined in the Dodd-Frank law as they fight over President Obama's budget.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has made it a little easier for institutions to hire employees who previously had committed insignificant crimes, the agency said Friday.

Missouri and Utah join a list of seven other states where lawmakers are considering whether to ban the check-out fees.

Fierce competition, a run-up in prices, and an expected jump in interest rates in the years ahead could spell bad news for banks that hold multifamily loans on their balance sheets. Cheap financing from Fannie and Freddie is also fueling concerns of a bubble.

From the start, mPowa CEO Dan Wagner has talked about partnerships being the key to getting his company’s chip-and-PIN mobile card reader into the hands of merchants – and eventually becoming a formidable foe to the likes of Square Inc. in the U.S.

The law is on the way to spawning 30,000 pages of regulations. A mere 37% of rule-making deadlines have been met. Which raises the of question whether Dodd-Frank is just too unwieldy.

Colonial American Bank wants to move its headquarters and switch its state charter to New Jersey from Pennsylvania.

President Obama has nominated Sally Jewell, head of outdoor company REI and a former banker, to be Secretary of the Interior.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is looking to head off costly U.S.-U.K. tension over deposits after examining a 1993 budget legislation.

The first hearing of the year for the Senate Banking Committee has been scheduled for Thursday morning at 10:30. Top banking regulators will be in attendance to discuss the implementation of the Dodd-Frank reform law among other issues.

Moody's (MCO) chief executive told investors Friday he is unaware of plans by federal and state officials to sue the company for allegedly misleading investors in the run-up to the housing crisis.