Policy & Regulation

President Obama has nominated Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Editors discuss why the move has little chance of winning Congressional approval and is emblematic of Washington's housing reform dilemma.

Rep. Mel Watt will likely face an uphill to win confirmation as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but nominating him has other advantages in the debate over long term mortgage policy.

Sen. Tim Johnson, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have remained mum over the renewed push to end "too big to fail", which has garnered attention recently from prominent lawmakers, regulators and pundits.

The consensus in Washington is that "more needs to be done" to end "too big to fail," but the bulk of the reforms Congress and the Basel Committee adopted in the wake of the 2008 crisis have yet to be adopted. So no one truly knows if we've done "enough" yet.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just can't wait for Edward DeMarco's reign at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to end.

National Mortgage Insurance is upending the traditional business model by underwriting every single loan it insures and promising not to ask lenders to pay claims on defaulted loans if the borrower had made 18 months of consecutive payments.

Regions Financial in Birmingham, Ala., is taking steps to conform its capital to evolving regulatory requirements.

President Obama is expected to nominate Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., on Wednesday to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to sources, a move that is likely to spark a fierce confirmation battle.

The debate over "too big to fail" has attracted unprecedented attention in the last few months from prominent lawmakers, regulators and pundits, but both Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, two key players, remain on the sidelines.

Median bank chief executive pay raises slowed from the year before but look healthy compared with stagnant revenues and languishing stock prices.