U.S. home-price gains this year weren't large enough to justify an increase in the maximum size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will purchase in 2013, the companies' regulator said today.

Consumer-focused regulations, in general, should reflect what financial products actually do, not the technicalities of who issues them or what legal status they hold.

Lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that charge Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), HSBC and Credit Suisse (CS) with wrongdoing in the sale of securities backed by residential mortgages may advance, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Wednesday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a bulletin Thursday raising concerns that specialty consumer reporting agencies are not easily releasing free information to consumers.

Former Fannie Mae chief executive Michael Williams has been appointed to chair the board of directors of Prospect Mortgage LLC.

Bigger banks are farming out broker-dealer services, as regulatory compliance costs rise.

Dan Rollins has a reputation for cost-cutting, but he swears he is not arriving to the CEO suite at BancorpSouth with "preconceived ideas."

Northeast Bancorp in Lewiston, Maine, has repurchased the roughly 4,200 preferred shares it issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The bureau could offer an X Prize, encouraging companies to solve problems through competition or invite applications from entrepreneurs and financial companies, providing those with the most promising ideas a time-limited waiver for pilot tests.

Fannie's bid to cut force-placed insurance costs by hundreds of millions of dollars has won the Swiss giant's participation. For existing market leaders and their bank partners, less lucrative times may lie ahead.

Ongoing troubles in Europe could force another bank there to sell off a key U.S. holding.

International Bancshares (IBOC) in Laredo, Texas, has completed the repurchase of its remaining 131,000 shares of preferred stock issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

A U.S. Century spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that the $1.3 billion-asset bank's shareholders approved the sale to C1 Bank in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Teche Holding Co. (TSH) in New Iberia, La., has agreed to sell a loan portfolio with a book value of $46.3 million.

Wells Fargo is among several American institutions trying to capitalize on strong ties between the U.S. and Canada and capture clients doing business on both sides of the border.

As policymakers mull the future of U.S. mortgage policy, Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Ed DeMarco sees a potential starting point in an entity he does not regulate: the Federal Housing Administration.

There are too many banks that "cannot survive," the heads of CertusBank say in discussing their recent acquisition of a failed bank and predictions of more to come.

Many bankers in the New York area saw few effects from the October hurricane, while the Philadelphia area saw widespread bank and ATM closures, according to the Fed's Beige Book.

The very same low interest rates and easy credit terms that ran up the "for sale" housing business are now busily at work running up the multifamily rental business.

More banks are looking to outsource advisory tasks as compliance costs rise, though some observers believe the trend could lead to more oversight of the actual vendor relationships.