Opinions

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is preparing to back away from a controversial plan to overhaul the servicing fees paid on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, after intense, across-the-board industry opposition to the idea.

The Federal Trade Commission has stopped an operation targeting payday loan seekers that charged for worthless programs without consumers' consent.

A plan by the Obama administration to help millions of middle class families refinance their homes would cost large banks between $5 billion to $10 billion, the White House said Wednesday.

An operation that allegedly deceived consumers with false promises of nonexistent sales jobs will be banned from marketing any employment products or services under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

The election season, already off to a fascinating start, will have an added twist for high-ranking members of the House Financial Services Committee.

There have always been regulatory impediments to the pursuit of profit, but bankers are increasingly worried about how to preserve the self-determination they have left.

The underperformance of big bank stocks last year helped restore their yields to a rough parity with smaller peers, but actual quarterly payouts remained a small fraction of pre-crisis levels.

Safety-and-soundness orders continued to abate late last year in another sign that the banking industry is regaining its balance.

Two top Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee said the CFPB should stop the collection of privileged information from banks until Congress can clarify how that information is protected.

Community banks on average seem to be losing less revenue from a lower interchange cap that first forecast. Observers caution that those banks can't get too comfortable since market forces have yet to change the landscape.