Policy & Regulation

The agencies appear to be at loggerheads over a final Basel III deal, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. pushing for a higher leverage ratio but facing resistance from the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Federal Reserve Board has hit a Wisconsin bank with an enforcement action, while lifting actions against two others.

U.S. payday lenders are lashing out at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the wake of a report that concluded the industry traps consumers in a cycle of debt.

A Congressional Budget Office report commissioned by Democrats concludes that principal reductions in modifications of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would achieve more success if eligibility of the Home Affordable Modification Program were widened.

Heartland will use Ingenico's software and experience with EMV-chip cards to help deliver new terminals and PIN pads in the U.S. as the country migrates to the EMV standard for payment cards.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused 18 former officers and directors of the parent company of Midwest Bank with reckless practices that led to the Chicago-area bank's failure during the financial crisis.

Small banks are pushing to be exempted from what they call an unneeded and overly burdensome data-collection effort to spot how consumers may be abused by checking account overdraft fees and other charges.

A pair of longtime foes, community banks and credit unions, oppose CFPB rules and — gasp — are even willing to team up in lobbying for exemptions.

Accounting rules require banks to drain reserves when loan losses are low and build them up when problems abound, amplifying booms and busts. Allowing a long-run view of losses in setting reserves would improve financial stability.

Regulators in Massachusetts ordered a Nevada-based collection agency and its owner to immediately stop collecting payments on more than 100 illegal loans made to consumers in the state.