Opinions

Although lawmakers were ostensibly there to discuss the nominations to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the debate over "too big to jail" continued to dominate a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Sen. Bob Corker raised concerns Tuesday about whether the Financial Stability Oversight Council could unwind a healthy bank solely due to concerns about whether the institution is "too big to fail."

The House passed a bill by voice vote Tuesday evening that would allow banks to opt out from sending unchanged annual privacy notices to customers, a measure the chamber previously passed during the lame duck session last year.

Lawmakers are looking into removing the roadblock that currently exists in California for mobile-pay startups that either can't afford the compliance costs for state licensing or define themselves as Web-based marketplaces, rather than true money transmitters.

It was very busy in Washington last week, but the item that produced the most news in the banking world wasn't even on the radar. Attorney General Eric Holder was supposed to talk about drones, but he also made a surprising admission with far-reaching consequences.

Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, released Tuesday, renews attacks on the Dodd-Frank reform law and government housing policy.

An industry lawyer predicts enforcement actions against banks that allowed automatic withdrawals against their customers' expressed wishes.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House banking panel, is asking whether the Fed can lawfully transfer funds to the CFPB if the agency is without a director.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to clarify his surprising remarks last week about whether some institutions are too big to prosecute.

Reform efforts could result in a much smaller scope of permissible lending at the FHA, with a renewed focus on its traditional core of low-income customers, higher credit score requirements and increased down payments.