Law and regulation

You might have missed it, but there was big news last week—and we aren’t just talking about the delay on Basel III implementation. The election dominated the week for obvious reasons but other news was also critical. Following is our list of the most important stories in Washington during the past week:

Coinciding with the Veterans Day holiday, mortgage-settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith invited members of the military and veterans to report their complaints of abuses by mortgage servicers.

There's going to be significant overturn on the House Financial Services Committee next year, thanks to a number of retirements and several lost races.

Accretive Health Inc.'s chairman and CEO should be dismissed because of stock losses resulting from the use of tactics to collect money from hospital patients, according to an investor lawsuit.

A section of Dodd-Frank tells regulators not to rely on the credit agencies, so an OCC rule that goes into effect in January says banks can't use thos ratings to prove the value of their investments. The bank have to use some other source or do their own analysis. That could get costly.

Banks shouldn't go to extremes to make up for declining earnings, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Friday.

A federal judge granted preliminary approval Friday to the proposed settlement of a massive lawsuit brought by retailers against Visa, MasterCard and banks that issue their cards.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday issued detailed instructions to financial institutions ahead of the upcoming stress testing exercise that begins next week.

Smaller banks, fearing the regulatory burden from the legislation will crush them and no longer holding the hope that Romney could lighten the load, are now weighing their future. For many that might mean consolidation.

Small banks won a critical battle Friday as regulators agreed to indefinitely delay implementation of Basel III until various issues with a proposal can be resolved.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has made it clear he plans to leave office, but who from a long list of likely (and far-reaching) candidates should be chosen as his replacement?

Fed Gov. Elizabeth Duke said heightened burden from Dodd-Frank and Basel rules could make mortgage lending a less viable option for community banks, which make up a "significant" portion of the market.

President Obama's re-election will speed up implementation of Dodd-Frank, increasing regulatory burden and potentially spurring some bankers to finally sell.

The Dodd-Frank Act, sold to the public as the tamer of the Wall Street titans, may well end up having a disproportionate impact on smaller institutions, thanks to the costs of capital implications of being "not too big to fail" and the advent of the CFPB.

Massachusetts' Senator-elect may be public enemy No. 1 among bankers, but Citizens Republic CEO offers this reassurance: "She's but one vote."

U.S. financial institutions will not be required to start complying with Basel III capital and liquidity requirements by Jan. 1, according to a joint statement issued by regulators on Friday.

Now that the uncertainty of the elections is out of the way, we may see certain Dodd-Frank rules finalized by regulators soon. And opponents of the law see one upside: if Democrats are less on guard defending the law, they could be more pragmatic about adjustments.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council will meet Nov. 13 to consider reform to money market mutual funds, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

Critics claim a Dodd-Frank rule to bar banks from relying on ratings agencies to assess the value of their investments will increase compliance costs, spur concentration and even shrink investment income.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin in Madison managed to push capital ratios at its thrift a bit closer to well-capitalized status during the third quarter, despite posting another loss.