Policy & Regulation

Banks might have more success winning over underbanked consumers if they lowered initial deposit requirements and offered banking services to noncustomers, according to a new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A battle over Senate procedures and the FDIC's absence from the debate were viewed as contributing to blocking a bill to extend the TAG program.

"Consumers disputed up to 38 million items on their consumer credit reports last year at the three largest consumer reporting agencies, according to a report released Thursday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," writes American Banker's Rachel Witkowski.

According to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, regulators are close to completing the Volcker Rule that will ban proprietary trading at U.S. firms.

House Republicans continued their attacks on the Volcker Rule on Thursday, arguing it was unnecessary and overly complex just a day after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled regulators were close to finalizing it.

The National Credit Union Administration showed strong improvement in an employee satisfaction survey released by the Partnership for Public Service.

The House Financial Services Committee addressed concerns for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding the agency's implementation of derivatives provisions laid out in the Dodd-Frank Reform Act.

Dwight Fettig, the staff director of the Senate Banking Committee, will return to the private sector at yearend, while several other staffers are receiving promotions. Charles Yi, the chief counsel and deputy staff director, will succeed Fettig.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s board of directors voted to approve a $2.7 billion budget for 2013. With fewer anticipated costs for bank failures and their clean-ups, the budget for the upcoming year had an 18% drop from previous years.

Twitter's immense popularity has caught the attention of many established payment companies and entrepreneurs. Several have attempted to turn the microblogging service into a payment channel, but so far there are few success stories.