Opinions

Unless regulators coordinate their efforts to reform banks' home lending, mortgage servicing and remittance businesses, American consumers will continue to lose access to affordable financial services.

As the Seattle and Des Moines Home Loan banks inch closer to the first successful voluntary merger in the system's history, observers are beginning to ask which institution will try next.

Before regulators require the country's largest banks to take on more burdensome regulations, they need to reconsider the parameters used to assess the threat of systemic risk.

WASHINGTON — Dean Schultz, the long-time head of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, is planning to retire next spring once his successor has been appointed, the bank said Friday.

Regulators, in their efforts to shore up banking, should be careful not to sow problems elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase's CEO said in his first public comments since July, when he disclosed he had been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Although the case ostensibly turns on whether loan officers should be paid for overtime, the high court is focused on whether government agencies have the right to substantially change regulations without seeking public comment.

In order to make homeownership more affordable, the FHFA should make sure that GSE guarantee fees fully recognize private mortgage insurance and restore the longstanding tax-deductible treatment of mortgage insurance premiums.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo said a pending measure requiring large banks to hold enough unsecured debt that can be converted in a resolution will be yet another example of U.S. regulators taking a harder line than the international agreed-to standard.

The Federal Reserve Board has published an 11-page guide for banks looking to acquire large rivals.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that M&T Bancorp would pay $3.1 million in fines and reimbursement for deceptively marketing its checking accounts as free.