Policy & Regulation

U.S. banks spent much of the last five years grappling with the legal fallout from the subprime housing bubble. Now, with the launch of a surprise inquiry by a hard-charging federal prosecutor in New York, lenders are wondering if subprime auto loans are next.

Bank of America Corp. is nearing a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in which it will pay between $16 billion and $17 billion to resolve probes into its sale of mortgage-backed bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter said.

FICO in San Jose, Calif., has launched a credit risk prognosis tool financial institutions can use to stress-test their consumer loan portfolios.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau named 10 banks and credit unions on Wednesday that it claimed were not being transparent about their agreements with large universities to market financial products to students.

From the architects of multibillion-dollar mortgage settlements comes the latest scare for banks: a Department of Justice investigation of subprime auto lending. But the auto loan market has a different track record and players than mortgages, setting the stage for a unique fight among prosecutors, lenders and dealers.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve Board offered blunt criticism of "living wills" filed by the most complex banks, and warned that failure to improve their 2015 plans could have consequences.

President Obama became the latest policymaker to wish he could make the regulatory system simpler and more efficient. Yet there are powerful reasons why it will never happen. Here's why.

Citigroup's $285 million mortgage-securities pact with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was approved by a judge whose earlier rejection of the accord was assailed by a federal appeals court.

A report on big bank subsidies offers proof that statutory, regulatory, and industry changes have strengthened the financial system in the years since the crisis, according to Financial Services Forum chief Rob Nichols.

The skill set of successful military commanders makes them uniquely well-suited to compliance roles in today's strict regulatory environment, writes former U.S. Army Captain Jonathan Hendershott.