Policy & Regulation

A trove of leaked documents casts HSBC Holdings Plc into a harsh light, as a consortium of investigative journalists said it found the bank was among the most active in registering shell companies that move money around the world on behalf of rich and politically connected clients.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would not hear an appeal from Wells Fargo to overturn a $203 million verdict against the bank regarding overdraft fees.

The agency's insurance-rate cut could spur the rehab of thousands of affordable units, but it's far from a total solution, housing advocates say.

Pew Charitable Trusts argues that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to impose new rules on checking account overdraft policies. Does an analysis of CFPB's complaint database support this conclusion? Haberfeld's Achim Griesel says no.

Rather than look at the hard problem of restructuring the banking system, critics of the largest institutions should focus on the more immediate issues pertaining to extremely high capital requirements, which may hamper economic activity.

Debt collection, credit reporting and mortgages topped the list of complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year, while complaints about prepaid cards and consumers loans soared, the agency said Friday.

HSBC hasn't adhered to terms outlined in a U.S. deferred-prosecution agreement requiring compliance measures to detect and prevent violations of money-laundering and sanctions laws, an external monitor said.

The Federal Reserve has given final approval to a rule that will let banks include investment-grade municipal bonds among the assets they use to meet regulatory requirements to ensure they have sufficient liquidity to weather a crisis.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has amassed more than $300 million in so-called "unobligated balances" in its civil penalty fund, driven by a bumper crop of penalties against financial institutions in the past year. Some are questioning why the balances remain so large, year after year.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's proposal to obtain trader source code sets a dangerous precedent of regulators impinging on firms' constitutional protection from search and seizure.