Opinions

Home Affordable Modification Program denial rates are still high, but the Treasury Department and top mortgage servicers contend that the numbers have improved.

The Federal Housing Administration is expected to rebuff a government watchdog report that blasted down payment assistance programs. The report has raised concerns that mortgage lenders would have to indemnify FHA for past loans, and that housing finance agencies would have the programs restructured.

A recent FCC ruling lumps legitimate businesses in with the telemarketing abusers and will hold banks to unrealistic standards.

The nation's Federal Reserve Banks have kicked off a multi-year process aimed at speeding up our often painfully slow payment system. Earlier this month, a Fed task force on the issue elected a steering committee that will play a key role in defining a path forward. The 19 members on the steering committee represent various parts of the payments ecosystem, including banking giants, corporations like Walmart that are large users of the payment system, and payment innovators like Dwolla and Ripple Labs. Here's a look at 13 of them.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers continued their assault Wednesday on a portion of the Dodd-Frank Act that grants the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the ability to seize and unwind a failing banking company, arguing that reforming the bankruptcy code is a better way to tackle "too big to fail."

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry laid out a sweeping financial reform agenda on Wednesday, suggesting he would force the biggest banks to hold even more capital or reinstitute elements of the Glass-Steagall Act.

In a two-day marathon markup, the House Financial Services Committee passed 14 financial reform bills, including measures to broadly restructure the Federal Reserve, block some CFPB rules and limit compensation at the GSEs.

MasterCard is cooperating with a European investigation into its fees, though it is questionable that this process will have a widespread effect on interchange, according to MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga.

Regulators have given the merger between CIT Group and OneWest Bank the green light — so long as CIT comes up with a revised Community Reinvestment Act plan. This condition is good news for the low-income communities impacted by the merger and sets a strong precedent for regulators' review of future bank deals.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still not producing enough adequately-trained examiners necessary to monitor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to an inspector general report.