Policy & Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a series of rules overhauling the mortgage system. One rule released on Friday bans compensation to mortgage originators based on loan terms, including a higher interest rate or generally a high-cost loan.

As a part of several appraisal rules released last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will require mortgage lenders to release free copies of home appraisals to borrowers.

Following a positive industry reaction to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Qualified Mortgage regulation, bankers are feeling good about the prospects that the related QRM rule will bring additional flexibility.

The lawmaker behind the Federal Reserve and Glass-Steagall Acts understood that unless legislation imposes specific rules, including clear limits on financial institutions' activities, we are bound to have lax regulation, excessive speculation, and crises.

President Obama is set to re-nominate Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a White House statement. Cordray was named to the post in January 2012 with a recess appointment.

A recent BankThink post bemoans the one-size-fits-all application of Basel III. But the reason capital rules have become so sweeping is that banks have become bigger, more complex and more connected to the global economy.

JPMorgan Chase, the lender that lost more than $6.2 billion last year from wrong-way bets on credit derivatives, named Cindy Armine as chief compliance officer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission are weighing new restrictions on how debt collectors may use social media websites like those run by Facebook and Twitter to contact potential debtors.

Some of the nation's biggest lenders said that savings from firing consultants doing foreclosure reviews would largely cancel out the cost of direct compensation to borrowers.

General Electric (GE) has agreed to settle a lawsuit charging it with wrongdoing in the sale of securities backed by residential mortgages.