Policy & Regulation

Drew Breakspear spent decades as a banker before becoming the top industry enforcer in Florida. He is empathetic to banks, realizes the growing importance of virtual currencies like Bitcoin and believes more bankers should serve on the Fed's Board of Governors.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., introduced legislation on Wednesday to increase fraud protections for debit card customers.

The GSEs are the essence of highly leveraged, systemically important financial institutions, based on their size, interconnectedness and the lack of substitutability

Charles H. Keating, whose leadership of a California savings and loan made him the face of a banking crisis and a millstone around the politicians who tried to help him, has died. He was 90.

An upcoming Senate Banking Committee vote this month could be the tipping point needed for housing finance reform to actually happen — or it could signal yet more stagnation. American Banker editors discuss the political stakes and potential pitfalls as Congress attempts to change how the government supports the mortgage market.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board is scheduled to meet next week to vote on a tougher leverage ratio for the country's eight largest U.S. banks, the agency announced Tuesday.

Rep. Maxine Waters' plan to overhaul the mortgage finance market may be dead-on-arrival in the House, but it is still likely to help determine the fate of a separate Senate bill seen as the leading congressional attempt to enact reform.

HSBC has "much work" to do as part of a $1.9 billion agreement with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution for money laundering, the U.S. said in a status report on the U.K.-based bank's performance.

Eliminating payday lenders would create a void that banks, thrifts, and credit unions cannot or are reluctant to fill. With greater transparency, payday lenders can become a viable partner in the small-cash market.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to improve the efficiency of its program for direct supervision of banks and non-banks, the inspector general at the Federal Reserve, which audits CFPB activities, said.