Policy & Regulation

We need to secure a balance between literal enforcement of statistical conclusions and the actual intention of the bank and the real needs of underserved minority communities.

As the year end edges closer, the window is narrowing for policymakers to make 2013 memorable for banking legislation and rule-making. Following are predictions from Washington-based experts about what will transpire—and what won't—on the policy front before the arrival of 2014.

Regulators are widely expected Wednesday to unveil far less stringent standards than an earlier proposal for the "qualified residential mortgages" that are exempt from new risk-retention requirements for securitized loans.

An executive at Calvert Financial in Ashland, Mo., has admitted to using funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to buy a luxury condominium.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking at least $6 billion from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to settle civil claims the bank sold bad mortgage bonds to government-backed finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to issue subpoenas to mortgage servicers to find out if borrowers in foreclosure are being overcharged by third-party vendors or paying for services that were not actually delivered.

A call to reassign GSE affordable housing goals to private securitizers ignores important changes in underwriting standards and the nature of federal mortgage guarantees in the conventional conforming market.

If regulators have concluded that the largest banks are "too big to manage," then let's confront that head-on. But let's not target a bank and drag it down piece by piece.

History tells us that post-crisis reforms should increase confidence, but still allow regulated entities to innovate and prosper, all in support of a stronger economy.

Bank of America's lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over $1.7 billion in investor losses was dismissed by a federal judge.