Policy & Regulation

The banking industry and federal regulators are struggling to find a middle ground between financial inclusion and preventing bad guys from gaining access to the mainstream financial system — but it doesn't appear a solution is coming anytime soon.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued four consent orders in November, according to its latest monthly roundup of enforcement actions published Monday.

Centralizing reporting and response functions can help banks better spot compliance shortcomings. It's also a good way to foster trust with regulators.

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Visa and MasterCard halted services in Crimea after a new round of U.S. sanctions, according to multiple reports.

2014 was a big year for payments. Disruption came from within the financial services industry and from outsiders like Apple and Walmart. Mainstream payment companies had to respond to these new competitors as well as adapt to fresh attention from regulators and fraudsters.

With Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reserves erasing crisis-era losses, the agency is staring down a critical decision on how to implement a congressionally required increase in the insurance fund.

It is unclear if the wave of state actions signals a burgeoning state scrutiny of consumer finance companies or if state enforcers will only employ this new approach on occasion.

Federal regulators formally issued a final risk retention rule for mortgage securitizations, a long-awaited and hotly debated measure that is nevertheless expected to have little market impact when it takes effect a year from now.

It isn't just payday lenders and money-services firms that are being ditched by banks lately. Community banks are getting cut off too.