Organization Root Tag

Dueling blockchain stories — one arguing it was virtually useless, the other saying it could change real estate lending — seized the top spots this week, while readers also focused on tax reform aftermath and a key Senate retirement.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints dropped last year for most of the big banks, including Wells Fargo, though they rose sharply at Capital One.

Banks have been in full cost-cutting mode in recent years, but with profits expected to increase substantially as a result of tax reform, all analysts and investors want to know is how they plan to spend their tax savings.

Kirsten Sutton Mork, the House Financial Services Committee's staff director, will become chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The proposal lays out principles in three critical areas: the effectiveness of senior management, handling of the firm’s business line and the independent risk management structures within a banking organization.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has called for an investigation into how CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English was approved for a permanent civil service job at the agency.

Overstock CEO and Wall Street gadfly Patrick Byrne wants to create a market free from trading practices he has long decried.

SunTrust and First Republic are taking benefits they offer to their workers, such as financial wellness training and student debt repayment, and extending them to corporate clients as benefits they can offer to their own employees. In doing so, they are strengthening relationships with valuable commercial customers.

Twenty-two trade groups, including seven financial trade groups, sent a letter to House lawmakers calling for new data security standards that would preempt state law.

The Trump administration should not name J. Mark McWatters as head of the consumer agency, given his lack of experience overseeing commercial banks and his leadership of the National Credit Union Administration, a cheerleader for the industry it supervises.

Readers react to President Trump considering a credit union regulator to head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, debate a delay for top banking nominees, opine on the value of blockchain, and more.

The Trump administration should not name J. Mark McWatters as head of the consumer agency, given his lack of experience overseeing commercial banks and his leadership of the National Credit Union Administration, a cheerleader for the industry it supervises.

Agency plans to address issues and regulation of cybercurrencies; OCC says the bank failed to fix problems cited in a 2012 consent order.

Banks still have advantages in the battle against big tech firms like Amazon and Facebook, but they will need to capitalize on those to survive.

Customers saw transactions recorded multiple times and experienced drained accounts and long hold times. It’s a warning to all financial institutions as they head further into mobile-only banking — glitches are more visible and painful and need to be addressed faster than ever.

The OCC said Thursday that the bank has yet to fully meet the conditions of a 2012 consent order requiring it to address problems in its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering compliance programs.

The recently enacted tax reform bill is likely to encourage more consumers to rent instead of buy and tamp down the rapid rise in home prices.

In adding Martin Pfinsgraff, until recently the OCC's deputy comptroller for large-bank supervision, and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Linda Medler, a cybersecurity expert, the regional bank says it is trying to build a board with expertise in fields of timely interest.

The people-helping-people model proffered by LendingClub and others quickly foundered, but several startups aim to bring it back with the help of distributed ledger technology.

Sen. Sherrod Brown called on the Trump administration to support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement action against PHH Corp., which agreed to a $45 million settlement this week related to foreclosure abuses.