Policy & Regulation

Seeking to narrow the range of activities in which well-capitalized and well-managed bank holding companies can engage is a mistaken endeavor. Prohibiting activities will lessen competition, increase risk and raise costs for customers.

As a fast, low-cost payment system, Bitcoin provides healthy competition for legacy banks. It's also a bulwark for financial privacy and freedom of speech.

First Financial Service in Kentucky and State Employees' Credit Union in North Carolina believes their products are responsible and avoid taking advantage of borrowers. But they are concerned that the CFPB could pressure them to end their programs.

The FTC on Monday announced a proposed settlement to resolve allegations that a payment processor and its owners used unfair tactics to open and maintain scores of merchant accounts for Infusion Media Inc., which perpetrated the “Google Money Tree” work-at-home scheme.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued cease-and-desist orders against three banks in October and released seven banks from enforcement actions.

The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are telling a U.S. Senate committee that Bitcoins are legitimate financial instruments, boosting prospects for wider acceptance of the virtual currency.

The former chairman and chief executive of the failed Summit Bank in Burlington, Wash., has been sentenced to three years in prison for concealing millions of dollars in past-due loans.

The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the state attorney general's right to issue subpoenas and investigative questionnaires in a case involving four collection agencies - Cavalry SPV I, Cavalry SPV II, Cavalry Investments and Cavalry Portfolio Services.

A detailed look at how the freshman senator from Massachusetts has used her first 10 months in office, including her own insights from an interview with American Banker.

Since taking her Senate seat more than 10 months ago, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has continued her intense criticism of big banks. But she has also focused on other areas in the financial services realm, covering everything from housing finance reform to student loan debt. Following is a guide to the Massachusetts Democrat's biggest banking issues.