Policy & Regulation

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board issued a proposal Monday that would require certain financial institutions that have been assigned Legal Entity Identifiers to include that information in their regular reports, a first but tentative step toward broader reliance on the universal counterparty ID.

Lending groups are demanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau take down its mortgage rate calculator, arguing it is providing misleading information to consumers.

Nomura Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc helped fuel a bubble that led to the collapse of the U.S. housing market, an attorney for the Federal Housing Finance Agency said at the opening of a trial over defective mortgage-backed securities.

A former chief financial officer at Cooperative Bank in Roslindale, Mass., has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the mutual thrift, alleging he was fired after complaining about conflicts and mismanagement.

Westamerica Bancorp. probably expected little trouble when it asked for regulatory permission to close a small branch in northern California. Wrong! Welcome to the world of online petitions and social media.

Frank Hamlin, CEO of Canandaigua National, suggested in a recent letter to shareholders that N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's cases against Financial Institutions Inc. and Evans Bancorp were politically motivated.

A top Justice Department prosecutor said the U.S. is prepared to punish banks for violating criminal settlements, an unprecedented move designed to crack down on repeat offenders.

A recent Supreme Court decision means that one exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act does not apply to mortgage salespeople, but their employers might still be able to take advantage of other exemptions.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week would make it easier for consumers to secure financing to purchase manufactured housing.

Ed DeMarco, the former chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned that efforts under the Obama administration to expand access to credit could risk repeating mistakes that led up to the crisis.