Opinions

It's been nearly a century since reformers and lenders agreed on 36% as a small-dollar loan ceiling. Inflation has since swelled production costs, and lending under this cap is no longer profitable. The result: fewer options for consumers.

Many online small-business lenders worry that future regulations could stymie innovation in this fast-growing industry. But well-designed requirements would simply ensure that online lenders can offer adequate borrower protections without giving up market share.

Promontory Financial trades on its ability to deal with regulators, so being banned by New York's top financial regulator is a serious problem. A potentially messy court fight may be the only way to protect its cachet.

Banks are seeing stronger consumer demand for credit for a range of products, including residential mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey of senior loan officers released Monday.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jerome Powell and the top adviser to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that, based on the recent autopsy of the October 15, 2014 spike in Treasury yields, there is reason to believe that high-frequency or algorithmic trading may elevate the risk of similar events in the future

The past two weeks have dashed hopes by bankers that the New York Department of Financial Services might take a different approach after the departure of Benjamin Lawsky as its superintendent. In taking actions against Promontory Financial Group and launching a probe into a bank-run instant messaging service, the agency appears poised to carry on Lawsky's legacy.

A high percentage of loans to oil and gas firms are large and syndicated. As a result, more shared loans are becoming problematic for participating lenders.

The CFPB's long-term reputation — and perhaps Dodd-Frank's overall success — may well be judged on whether the bureau moves beyond areas where it was specifically instructed to take action and exercises broader authority granted to it by Congress.

Promontory Financial vowed to take the New York Department of Financial Services to court after it effectively banned the consulting firm from working on regulatory issues for banks the department supervises.

Citigroup is being investigated over its student-loan servicing practices in a probe that the bank said echoes an enforcement action against at least one other institution.