Law and regulation

A pending proposal by the Federal Reserve Board to overhaul the way U.S. regulators supervise foreign bank operations is raising questions and sparking concern among industry players who fear it may go too far.

Housing advocates say there is a gap between the relief borrowers are seeing on the ground and what the five largest servicers agreed to do as part of the $25 billion settlement signed in February.

The "living will" process gives financial institutions the opportunity to, among other things, frame policy, improve operational efficiencies and educate the market, business units and regulators.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on enforcing fair lending laws. Because both agencies have authority to protect against discriminatory lending, this agreement will help to avoid duplicating efforts.

FirstSouth Bancorp in Lexington, Tenn., has repaid the $50 million it had received from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated enforcement actions against Anadarko Bank & Trust in Oklahoma and Hanmi Financial in Los Angeles.

Fees charged on homebuyers are meant to cover risk and protect taxpayers from losses, not pay for unrelated government programs.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice agreed Thursday to collaborate on enforcing fair lending laws to avoid duplicating efforts.

The Senate Banking Committee had tough questions for Shaun Donovan, on the heels of a disappointing report on the mortgage insurer's financial health last month.

Opponents have failed to halt momentum on a bill to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee program, and the Senate is slated to vote on the legislation as early as next week.

"It's clear the Roundtable's new chief executive plans on sticking around; this isn't a pit stop in his political career," writes American Banker's Editor-at-Large Barbara Rehm.

The Senate is preparing to vote soon on a bill to keep TAG alive even as various interests, including large institutions and money-market mutual funds, fight to shut the program down.

Capitol Bancorp had to postpone a bankruptcy hearing because, it says, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. repeatedly blocked it from paying the due-diligence costs of its new investors.

Next week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will focus on cross-border issues and the 2013 budget in two separate meetings.

HSBC (HBC) may be about to pay $1.8 billion to settle charges the bank served as a gateway for money laundering.

Financial institutions should, among other things, implement an information governance program, perform periodic privacy audits and learn how data is managed in the cloud.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., announced Thursday he would leave the Senate to head up The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

In an industry where everyone seems to have an opinion, these financial services veterans have learned to leverage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media to their advantage.

Chicago will become the first city in the nation to provide the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with information about local lenders' activities, including potentially fraudulent ones. The CFPB's Richard Cordray hopes other municipalities will follow suit.

An online advertising firm has settled FTC charges that it used "history sniffing" to gather data from consumers about their interest in issues from debt relief and credit repair to fertility and incontinence.