Opinions

The Obama administration on Tuesday finalized new regulations designed to crack down on high-cost loans to members of the military.

If Congress fails to act swiftly, most lending supported by the SBA will shut down for much of the next two months. This would undermine recent strength in a vital component of the American economy.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Monday that the Obama administration will continue to defend the Dodd-Frank Act amid Republican efforts to water down the law, even as one of its namesakes suggested changes to it may be necessary.

President Obama announced Monday his intention to nominate Kathryn M. Dominguez, an economics and public policy professor University of Michigan, to fill the final remaining slot on the Federal Reserve Board.

What asset threshold? Community banks may not be required by law to conduct stress tests, but about one in three have been asked by their examiners to do so, according to a recent survey of banks.

Federal judges have dismissed two lawsuits that accused Wells Fargo of reverse-redlining in Los Angeles and Cook County, Ill., Reuters reported.

In one fell swoop, the Federal Reserve Board completed two of the most significant rules on its docket, completing a surcharge rule for the largest and most systemically risky U.S. banks and outlining the first capital rules for a nonbank systemically important financial institution.

As new foreign bank regulations push financial institutions to shed risk-weighted assets, companies like Barclays and RBS are reducing their roles in the mortgage-backed securities market. But reduced competition in this sector is bad for liquidity.

Regulators and Congress can take several key steps to ease community banks' burden, from implementing tiered regulation to requiring less frequent call reports. And they should also remember that banks are innocent until proven guilty.

In a surprise move, the Federal Reserve Board proposed significant changes to its stress testing regime, including dropping its Tier 1 Common Capital requirements and delay leverage and risk-based capital ratio requirements for banks with "advanced approaches" in risk-based modeling.