Opinions

Elmira Savings Bank (ESBK) in Elmira, N.Y., has redeemed the remaining $3.5 million of preferred stock issued to the Treasury Department through the Small Business Lending Fund.

The Target Corp. data breach just before the holiday shopping season triggered another round of rhetoric on the merits and shortcomings of chip-based cards. But the breach's direct effect on merchant EMV plans is largely up in the air.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission is barring Bitcoin ATMs because the country's regulatory body views Bitcoin as a false currency that should not be used by people or banks for payments.

The Senate Banking Committee is moving forward with a plan to overhaul the housing finance system, but leaders still face a delicate balancing act in swaying some liberal members of the panel to sign on to the bipartisan effort without losing conservative supporters.

Bank of the West said Monday it will continue to offer interest-only mortgages to borrowers even though such loans are excluded from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule that goes into effect Jan. 10.

The Federal Reserve should allow market participants to make their own bets on what the central bank will do and when it will do it.

House leaders are unlikely to take up housing finance reform on the chamber floor this month, according to a new legislative schedule.

The United States is the most successful political, economic, and financial enterprise the globe has ever seen. It has this position because it has always embraced risk.

The second half of December is generally a slow period for news, with many people on vacation and businesses and government closed on holidays. Still, banks made a number of significant announcements this holiday season. In many cases the timing of disclosures may have been driven by circumstance - regulators appeared eager to wrap up settlements by yearend.

Lawmakers are expected to forge ahead on several key initiatives in the New Year, including housing finance reform -- but must move quickly in the early part of 2014 before legislative action grinds to a halt ahead of the mid-term elections in November.