Treasury Department

The Trump administration on Wednesday refrained from proposing the elimination of authority to clean up failed financial behemoths, but the Treasury Department still wants substantial reforms to the resolution powers.

The Supreme Court dealt hedge funds and other big investors a blow Tuesday by refusing to revive core parts of lawsuits that challenged the federal government’s capture of billions of dollars in profits generated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 billion and will request $312 million from the Treasury after recent tax reform legislation forced it to write down the value of deferred tax assets.

Tax reform caused Fannie Mae to burn through retained earnings that had been approved just two months ago and to post a fourth-quarter loss. CEO Timothy Mayopoulos argued it was a one-time event that overshadowed strong fundamentals.

More than one-third of the Office of Financial Research’s staff could soon be laid off, but the agency seems to lack the political clout needed to block the move.

As conservator, FHFA Director Mel Watt has substantial leeway to remake the government-sponsored enterprises without congressional input. Here's one way he might do so.

Problems with the IRS-managed Income Verification Express System, or IVES, have stoked concerns about delayed mortgage closings when volume picks up this spring.

The government must continue to provide support for the mortgage market in any new housing finance system, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council should ignore two recent Treasury Department recommendations regarding the labeling of systemically risky nonbanks.

Financial firms have mostly shrugged off the government's budget woes, but Washington's gridlock might pose a bigger risk than they think.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not keep the rest of Washington apprised of his plan to rescind an Obama-era memo on pot. Now Fincen and other federal banking agencies are dealing with the backlash from that decision.

Craig Phillips, a top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said his department "broadly" agrees with the FHFA plan, which would return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the private market and provide them an explicit government guarantee.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday warned traders and firms offering services related to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer rules apply to them — and regulators are watching closely.

The Fed said Wednesday that the system paid roughly $80.2 billion to the Treasury in 2017, a 13% drop from a year earlier because of an increase in interest payments to member banks for reserve balances.

Laurie Maggiano, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's program manager for servicing and secondary markets, died on Sunday.

The Dodd-Frank Act gets more attention when it comes to regulatory burden, but the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-laundering statutes arguably present even more of a compliance challenge for bankers.

The banking industry braced for big changes with the election of President Trump, but the financial reform law has proven its staying power over the past year.

The GSEs are on their way to paying back the money they owed the government under the original bailout deal made at the height of the financial crisis, making 2018 an opportune time for an overhaul of the housing finance market.

The Trump administration's Financial Stability Oversight Council is likely to remove the systemically important financial institution label for the remaining nonbanks on the list, but it might consider adding other firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The announcement Thursday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt agreed to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each build a $3 billion capital buffer avoided a potential crisis.