PayThink

The slew of mortgage rules coming down the pike tops the list for mortgage lender angst. And it's not just lenders who are concerned. Fair lending advocates worry about tighter standards leading to a squeeze on credit.

The simmering controversy over American Express' Bluebird card typifies a classic debate: When do regulations that ostensibly protect the public from shady operators really just protect incumbent businesses from competition?

Legal violations in student loan servicing may be worse than those in mortgage servicing for borrowers in the militar, says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Defense Department. So the two are joining forces to help stop it.

There needs to be stronger incentive for bankers to behave, far-reaching cultural changes spurred by directors and a unilateral commitment to stamp out money-laundering schemes.

It seems a shame we limit these debates to politics, doesn't it? What if credit unions and their trade groups hired their presidents in the same way?

The crisis of 2007-2008 brought profound changes to the financial services industry as well as to the American consumer's habits, changing the CFO's role.

Amex's Bluebird card account, exempt from Durbin and assertedly from bank regulation, is likely to generate high interchange. Consumers, banks and Amex won't pay for these checking accounts. Merchants (excepting Walmart) will.

"Analytical, calm and unbiased," is how his former colleagues describe Steven Antonakes, the CFPB's associate director for supervision, enforcement and fair lending. And it's not just fellow regulators signing his praises, industry veterans view him as being constructive force.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus released a report arguing how the Dodd-Frank Act didn’t end too-big-to-fail policies. This comes on the heels of Barney Frank’s report arguing that it did.

The director selection model for too many U.S. banks does not reflect the industry's risk profile realities of 2012.