Policy & Regulation

Kelly Cochran has vetted every rule that comes out of the agency, making her one of the most influential people in the financial services industry.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general has cleared a senior attorney for the agency who had been accused of giving false testimony to lawmakers over the agency's role in "Operation Choke Point."

Despite pledges last year to move "aggressively" to implement new credit scoring models at the government-sponsored enterprises, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's effort appears to have stalled.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule Monday that will make it easier for some community banks to make qualified mortgages.

The half-a-percentage-point reduction in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premium provided a bigger pop to the housing market than expected, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

Bank executives and outside experts finger technology as the area most in need of improvement when it comes to vetting financial institutions' ability to withstand the next bit economic shock.

A shorter, less burdensome and more sensible call report is an important step toward reducing community banks' regulatory burden.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including banks' subpar shareholder value and how big-data advocates can better communicate with critics who worry about the technology's potential discriminatory effects.

Community banks are hoping regulators' recent decision to drop certain items from call reports is just the beginning of supervisory efforts to streamline the forms to reduce their burden.

The U.S. Treasury announced some limited changes to its sanctions regime against Cuba, allowing banks to open accounts for Cuban nationals outside Cuba and eliminating some restrictions on those accounts.