Opinions

It's been just over one year since the Financial Crime Enforcement Network first provided instructions to banks on how they can both accept marijuana business dollars and still comply with the law. Yet few banks have opened their doors.

While we've made progress in regulating banks, it's also necessary to ask whether we are making the most of an opportunity to ensure that the financial industry serves the best interests of society.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Monday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation had terminated a May 2013 order against its Talbot Bank.

The Federal Reserve Board said Monday that it was barring five Swiss bankers from participating in the U.S. banking industry in connection with Credit Suisse's 2014 tax evasion settlement with the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, issued subpoenas Monday for several federal agencies, asking for a trove of documents concerning ongoing investigations that he said they are obstructing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit on Monday against an Ohio-based loan administrator and its owner for allegedly deceptively marketing services that claimed to save consumers money on their mortgage while any actual savings were offset by high fees.

Sen. Richard Shelby's bill isn't public yet, but sources indicate it could simplify capital standards for small banks, raise the $50 billion systemic threshold, alter the "qualified mortgage" rule and make some changes to the structure of the Federal Reserve Board.

In responding to a fan Monday on Twitter, Rowling was asked the full name of the character "Moaning Myrtle," a ghost that haunts Hogwarts, where Harry Potter goes to school. Rowling's reply raised a few eyebrows.

Most banks appear to be coping well with the CFPB's ability-to-repay rule for mortgages, but the burden is falling harder on community banks. A new proposal that would allow more small lenders to grant home loans to borrowers with high levels of debt could help.

Investor-owned ratings agencies would send a message to mutual fund shareholders, retirement plan participants and other investors that steps have been taken to avoid repeating the inaccurate ratings that contributed so heavily to the financial crisis.