Opinions

WASHINGTON — Bank regulators announced Monday higher thresholds for reporting requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act, after adjusting for inflation.

In what is probably the last night for bank collapses in 2011, regulators closed banks in Florida and Arizona, bringing the year's failure tally to 92.

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday nominated Richard Berner to become the first director of the Treasury Department's new Office of Financial Research.

Timothy Burniston, the former senior associate director for the Fed's division of consumer and community affairs, has joined Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has named Kristie K. Elmquist its Dallas regional director.

The CFPB's Office of Servicemember Affairs is reaching out to the banking and mortgage industries, as well as to members of the military and their families, to help raise awareness about financial challenges — from foreclosures to payday loans — and products that work for them.

As much as I would like to offer tidings of comfort and joy, I fear that 2012 is shaping up to be the year of extreme risks. These risks may not materialize into live problems, but it is best that bankers be prepared, particularly since at least some of the rotten plums are already baked into the Christmas pudding.

Banks won't be happy that a company not subject to federal supervision is filling a void that they, as regulated institutions, were forced to leave.

Former radio DJ Steve Streit has shepherded prepaid marketer Green Dot from its early days to its hard-won Fed blessing to buy a bank.

The agreement temporarily settles a partisan fight over funding for the two agencies responsible for implementing Dodd-Frank rules on derivatives.