Policy & Regulation

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both emphasized during a late Thursday debate that they are prepared to break up megabanks that pose a systemic risk to the U.S. economy, but also showed there are differences in how they approach "too big to fail."

Even while the FHFA finally embarked on a principal reduction plan, critics argued it was a dangerous idea that made Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac less safe while helping relatively few people.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials fielded tough questions Thursday about how they have wielded the resolution planning powers given to them by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The bank's top executives expressed confidence Thursday in their ability to address regulators' concerns about flaws in its resolution plan.

WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill 247-171 on Thursday that would raise the threshold for a Federal Reserve Board exemption that helps banks raise Tier 1 capital.

FHFA Director Mel Watt acknowledged that the principal reduction program may seem "too small and too late."

Rather than rush its proposal to regulate short-term lenders, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should carefully weigh the consequences of potentially driving lenders out of the market.

Two U.S. regulators said that tougher rules to strengthen the nation's financial system had not impaired the functioning of the bond market, and even if liquidity may have been affected for some types of securities, this was balanced by the benefit of safer banks.

The bad grades and detailed laundry list of fixes that institutions must make in the next five months — or face possibly severe consequences — may actually prove helpful in the long run, both to the debate over "too big to fail" and the banks themselves. Here's why.