Opinions

The former FDIC chairman said during a recent conference call that banks with a traditional model — essentially community banks — have been hurt by the Fed's interest rate policy and the trickle-down tactics of regulation.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to exclude mortgage real estate investment trusts from membership in the Federal Home Loan Banks. That would be a major setback for the entry-level borrowers who depend on mortgage REITs for sustainable home-financing options.

President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act five years ago this month, but the battle over the law's impact and legacy goes on. Several top lawmakers spoke to American Banker about how their views have evolved since the law's passage. Here are some highlights from those conversations.

Cyber threats or fraud may present bigger direct risks to banks, but many chief risk officers spend enormous amounts of time on the more tangible concern of keeping up with ever-growing regulatory expectations and requirements.

The chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may see more than a sixfold increase in their compensation to $4 million in spite of objections from President Barack Obama's administration and some lawmakers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering two vendors that sell credit card add-on products to pay nearly $10 million in combined fines and restitution for allegedly charging consumers for services never rendered.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., has again extended the deadline to complete its acquisitions of Central Community in Temple, Texas, and Ouachita Bancshares in Monroe, La.

The narrowing gap between what large and small lenders pay in guarantee fees to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has helped the industry's smallest originators grow their share of mortgages sold to the government-sponsored enterprises.

In the aftermath of passage of a sweeping law like Dodd-Frank, sharp divisions are common. What's unusual is the way the divide has persisted five years later, and in many ways has even hardened.

Blythe Masters, the former JPMorgan Chase executive, has joined the advisory board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a Bitcoin trade association created to represent the young industry's interests in Washington.