Policy & Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement attorneys have pulled back on new investigations in order to clear out a slew of pending cases, according to multiple current and former officials at the agency.

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers clashed this week over a bill making changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would cap the agency's budget in coming years.

As banks have largely ceded the market for government-backed loans to nonbank lenders and servicers, it's fallen on Ginnie Mae to be sure that these nonbanks can meet their obligations to bondholders. It's a huge concern for President Ted Tozer, who says the company does not have the resources or manpower to examine these firms' finances.

The House is preparing to vote on two cybersecurity bills this week, kicking off the latest push to improve information sharing between private companies and the government about potential attacks and threats.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt just made one of the biggest policy decisions of his 14-month tenure — but so far it has hardly caused a ripple on Capitol Hill.

Bank of America was fined 13.3 million pounds ($20 million) by the British markets regulator for failing to properly report millions of transactions, the highest such penalty imposed by the U.K. to date.

Former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker is far from the first watchdog to suggest the U.S. regulatory system is badly in need of a common-sense makeover. Yet a confusing and ineffective structure remains the status quo.

Seven years after declaring a truce in a battle with large banks over tracking their insured deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reopened the fight Tuesday with a new proposal that would take an even tougher stance.

Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and Republican presidential candidate, told supporters and Bitcoin enthusiasts that policymakers should foster the development of new payments technologies like they did with the Internet.

The National Pawnbrokers Association argues that its members have been unfairly swept up in the Justice Department initiative known as Operation Choke Point. But banks say Choke Point's not to blame: they're closing the accounts of cash-intensive businesses in order to ensure compliance with anti-money-laundering rules.