Opinions

Congress should avoid becoming so focused on the problems with big banks that they overlook the community lenders suffering from a lack of regulatory relief.

The powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is helping to reshape mortgage and payday lending, but its attempts to curb abuses in auto lending have been largely stymied by the clout of car dealers and the fragmented nature of auto finance.

Regulators finalized a rule Monday requiring banks to escrow flood insurance premiums and fees for loans on real estate located in a flood zone.

The Dodd-Frank Act called on regulators to develop ways to assess diversity practices in the financial sector, but the guidelines are getting panned by critics who say they do not go far enough.

A House Financial Services subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday on employee allegations of discrimination and retaliation at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The regulatory path may also be bumpier for P-to-P lenders that focus on subprime borrowers, predicts Raj Date, a former second-in-command at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

New York Community Bancorp would stay profitable and maintain capital levels well above the necessary minimum if it was hit with a sustained economic shock, its stress-test report said. It is one of the larger banks subject to the so-called DFAST review.

The Canadian Senate Banking, Trade and Commerce committee has issued a report encouraging "a light regulatory touch — almost a hands-off approach" to regulating digital currencies.

Determining regulatory requirements based on banks’ activities rather than their size would liberate old-school institutions from unnecessary burdens without endangering the financial system.

While regulators worldwide have urged banks not to "derisk" by cutting off entire industries or geographies, it is rare for policymakers to specifically cite this controversial sector as wrongly underserved.