Policy & Regulation

Facing strict new guidelines on deposit-advance loans, banks must now decide if it's worth their while to offer short-term credit to cash-strapped borrowers.

The Federal Reserve Board has hit two Midwest banks — Freedom Bank in Tulsa, Okla., and Freedom Bancorp. in Lindstrom, Minn. — with enforcement orders.

After House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said on Monday that he would not allow Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to testify on the agency's semi-annual report, Rep. Maxine Waters urged Hensarling to reconsider.

Sen. Sherrod Brown was flummoxed this week by a critic's description of herself as the "Judas goat" of Wall Street.

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp in Philadelphia is the subject of a governmental investigation into its residential real estate lending.

The Terminating Bailouts for Taxpayer Fairness Act adds more regulatory uncertainty to a financial sector that desperately needs clarity and direction.

Two federal regulators — the FDIC and the OCC — issued guidance on deposit-advance products that establish strict underwriting standards for payday loans offered by banks and any related third-party vendor.

During a lengthy interview, Jim Rohr, until recently the chief executive of PNC Financial Group, talked about cybersecurity, "too big to fail" and his bank's culture.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a bundle of rules designed to protect consumers involved in everything from auto loans and money transfers to mortgages. Some of those protections will result in higher costs for the very people they're designed to protect. Behind the trend: financial institutions that are passing along the cost of complying with new regulatory burdens or are pulling out of certain markets altogether.

More than a decade ago, regulators nearly suffocated PayPal. Now it looks like they're trying to squelch another disruptive, innovative payments system.