Law and regulation

It's shopping season in the payments industry. Just last month, Ingenico, ACI Worldwide and Fidelity National Information Services announced separate acquisitions. Many other companies have bought their peers in recent months.

Sen. Jerry Moran has reintroduced a bill to overhaul the structure of the CFPB in the wake of a controversial court ruling last month.

Sen. Michael Crapo, the new ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, discussed his priorities for the year in a sit-down interview with American Banker. During the interview, he also pushed for structural changes at the CFPB, and suggested they are needed at the OCC too.

Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to pay roughly $790 million to settle charges by regulators it manipulated a benchmark used to determine the rate at which banks loan to one another.

After the undermining of President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's director and talk swirling that Democrats may seek to cut a deal with Republicans, many of whom seek to scale back the agency, Sen. Elizabeth Warren may be the one who can save the CFPB.

Safety and soundness in banking will be found more in changes in oversight than regulation.

Citizens Community Bancorp (CZWI) in Eau Claire, Wisc., has shed its enforcement order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The inter-agency council created under Dodd-Frank tries to succeed where the SEC could not, hinting at its potential role longer term.

It's time to roll back the $250,000 coverage limit on FDIC deposit insurance, Boston University finance lecturer Mark Williams says.

Even as more states legalize marijuana, banks are abstaining from dealing with cannabis dealers. So call bankers stodgy. Call them unhip. Just don't call them noncompliant with industry regulations and federal drug laws.

The Clearing House Association has hired Gregg Rozansky as managing director and senior associate general counsel.

A U.S. district court closed a Houston-based debt collection operation that allegedly illegally used insults, lies and false threats to collect on payday loans, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters, are asking regulators for more detail on a recent settlement with mortgage servicers that halted an independent foreclosure review started last spring.

White's determination to succeed and legal competence will make her the most formidable chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission yet.

Sens. Johanns, Alexander and Cornyn are backing a bill that would stop CFPB funding for carrying out any actions that require a confirmed bureau director, in the wake of a controversial court ruling.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry believes regulatory cooperation between examiners is key to navigating the division of responsibilities that the Dodd-Frank Act made to bank regulation.

MasterCard continues to ride the plastic wave in worldwide payments. The Purchase, N.Y., company on Jan. 31 reported fourth-quarter net income of $605 million, driven in large part by growing use of its credit and debit cards outside of the United States.

Elizabeth Warren, the new senator from Massachusetts and the CFPB's founder, is uniquely positioned to cut a deal on the agency's structure, a move that could pave the way to confirm Richard Cordray as head of the agency and remove legal uncertainty surrounding its powers.

The Merchant Advisory Group is calling for a shift in deadlines for EMV acceptance in the U.S. — one extra month for every month the payments industry fails to find a common code for handling EMV debit transactions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has named Steve Antonakes as acting deputy director following the departure of Raj Date from that position on Thursday.