Policy & Regulation

Joseph Smith, who is monitoring the $25 billion national mortgage settlement agreement, says he is "encouraged" by banks' progress, but he cautioned that their numbers fail to take into account that short sales carry less weight in certain states.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a stark warning to mortgage lenders and brokers on Monday, arguing they must stop running "potentially misleading advertisements," including those targeting veterans and older Americans.

Instead of pushing to avoid risk retention or liability for future frauds, banks that want to originate and sell mortgages should focus on containing and rolling back the disparate impact doctrine, which seems sure to savage them.

The FHA's mission to promote housing has contributed to its downfall in addressing its other mission: to maintain fiscal discipline of the mortgage insurance fund.

The growth in hedge funds, private equity firms and other entities outside the regular banking system is leading one global group to call for stricter oversight of non-bank entities.

Regulators offer relief with Basel III delay, the Federal Housing Administration falters, credit card ad wars heat up.

An initial agreement between EBay and Intuit took effect in August 2006, and eBay backed away from hiring an Intuit employee for an opening at its PayPal unit, according to the complaint. By April 2007, the accord became a no-hire agreement,

The event, hosted by the Federalist Society, was largely designed to focus on the CFPB. But former BB&T CEO John Allison used his time to openly argue for ending, or limiting, the Fed.

IMGCAP(1)]

WASHINGTON — State regulators in Georgia closed the $125 million-asset Hometown Community Bank in Braselton late Friday, stretching the industry's failure toll this year to 50.