Opinions

Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul do not agree on much when it comes to banking, but when it comes to pot they're in lockstep. The two House Financial Services Committee members from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum introduced a bill last week that would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and give the states power over the issue, according to the Associated Press.

Rep. Ron Paul lobbed a new accusation at the Federal Reserve last week by suggesting it was "hiding" some of the country's gold reserves.

A House Financial Services subcommittee hearing Wednesday will explore whether recent changes in loan-origination rules will hurt consumers' chances of getting a mortgage.

A federal judge Monday deferred a final decision on whether to approve a class-action settlement that would resolve a lawsuit over Encore Capital Group Inc.'s collection tactics.

Even as he favored a broader exemption from risk retention than currently proposed, Rep. Barney Frank said Monday regulators should not undermine skin-in-the-game rules by turning the exception into the rule.

While some bankers are secretly gleeful the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not yet have a director, they are the ones likely to pay a heavy price as a result.

The first three failures of the quarter — two in Colorado, one in Illinois — late Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $590 million and brought the year's toll to 51.

David Wilcox was named director of the Federal Reserve Board's division of research and statistics. He will begin Oct. 1.

After months of complaints about overzealous examiners, frustrated bankers took it a step further by pressing a House panel to pass legislation forcing regulators to be more lenient.

Bair will join the Pew Charitable Trusts as a senior advisor starting Sept. 7. Meanwhile, Martin Gruenberg, the FDIC's vice chairman under Bair, was set to assume the position of acting chairman at the close of business Friday.