Opinions

Fed Governor says initiatives in Congress would subject the central bank to dangerous political interference with little payoff in transparency or accountability.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising concerns about the transparency and clarity of reverse mortgages based on more than a thousand complaints it received about the product.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is trying to send a clearer message to banks about potential red flags by removing low-level recommendations from its exam reports.

An admission of guilt would help investors make informed decisions about the validity of credit ratings and open up the rating business to healthy competition on the basis of quality.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Protests by community groups and now a public hearing threaten to delay the completion of CIT's acquisition of OneWest Bank. The deal will probably get approved, and it might not get delayed too long, but all those "probablys" and "mights" are what make the proponents of more big M&A queasy.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission is pushing hard against charging fees for faster Internet access, a stance that's a relief to businesses like Dwolla that use the Internet to develop and deliver payment services.

Support for fully exempting community banks from the Volcker Rule continues to grow, but advocates fear it could be waylaid by a larger fight in Congress over changes to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Regulators are taking their review of CIT Group's agreement to buy OneWest Bank to a public forum, following community activists' complaints about the deal.

Banco Santander's stock market value plummeted after it announced an $8.8 billion capital raise and dividend cuts in January. The experience serves as a reminder to bank directors that the interests of investors cannot remain forever on the back burner.