Policy & Regulation

Mortgage underwriting overlays are not only tighter than they were precrisis, they're more restrictive than they were 15 years ago — a trend that Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro wants to change.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $5 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that its brokerage unit failed to prevent an employee from trading on nonpublic information related to the 2010 acquisition of Burger King.

Rebeca Romero Rainey, the CEO of Centinel Bank of Taos, will use part of her speech at a Federal Reserve conference on small banks this week to discuss the need for regulatory relief and her belief that community bankers have a duty to persevere under difficult circumstances.

A panel at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium about the Department of Justice program featured a spirited debate about whether it is prudently fighting fraud or cooling banks' relationships with legal businesses.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser, who votes on policy this year, will retire after eight years in which he became a consistent critic of the central bank's unprecedented easing.

There is a good chance legislation that would provide regulatory relief to small banks and address concerns about which banks are dubbed systemically important could be wrapped in the same Senate bill next year, experts said at American Banker's 4th Annual Regulatory Symposium.

Regulators are developing joint standards for cybersecurity, testing special exam procedures and helping banks assess their own readiness, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg said at American Banker's 4th Annual Regulatory Symposium. That's a good thing because community bankers said they need a lot of help.

A reform intended to reduce risk in the financial system could inadvertently exacerbate future economic downturns.

Janet Yellen's tenure as Fed chair could open more doors for women in the C-suite. It also sends a powerful message to younger generations: math and economics are cool.

Industry groups have urged the bank regulators to implement more wholesale changes in the second review mandated by a 1996 law, saying the outcome of the first review was disappointing.