Opinions

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule on a case of far-reaching importance for any party affected by a Chapter 11 plan in a business bankruptcy case. At stake is the longstanding expectation of secured lenders that they'll either be repaid or permitted to take their collateral by means of a credit bid; in other words, paying for the collateral with their lien.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated support Wednesday for mortgage principal reductions at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it plans to follow the Justice Department's lead in pursuing fair lending violations when a policy has a disparate impact on a group of borrowers, unintentional or not.

Bankers are complaining the Fed is letting economists direct supervision while it refuses to allow much public debate on issues critical to the industry. Editor-at-large Barbara A. Rehm argues the Fed needs to be less insular and challenge Congress more.

The new rule will force banks in border-states to provide information about payments to foreign depositors, but lawmakers from Florida have proposed legislation to block the reporting requirement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking banks that issue structured notes to boost disclosures to investors, including the banks' own estimates for the securities' market value at the time of sale.

The pace of bank failures will slow considerably this year as the industry continues to recover from the real estate bust, according to the acting head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

We are in danger of a harmful proposal, which could be implemented this week. The proposal by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service would require all banks located within the United States to report interest payments made to nonresident alien depositors. The IRS in turn would exchange this information with foreign governments for data about Americans in those countries.

A group of fair housing advocates said Tuesday it plans to file a discrimination complaint against U.S. Bancorp, claiming the bank failed to maintain and market real estate-owned properties in minority neighborhoods.

The Cincinnati company was barred from raising the payout today after the most-recent series of stress tests.