Policy & Regulation

If the banking industry has the upper hand in the fight over swipe fees — and it certainly appears to — its advantage stems in no small part from divisions within the eight million retailers in the United States. It's always easier to defeat a divided enemy than a united one.

Parkmobile USA Inc. is making payment for metered parking spaces less expensive for its members in Washington, D.C. with a Parkmobile Wallet option for aggregating credit or debit card transactions.

Credit bureau and data verification provider Equifax has developed a service to help payment processors meet merchant validation requirements for new tax reporting obligations that went into effect this year.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner convened a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council by telephone Monday afternoon to discuss the potential impact of Hurricane Sandy on infrastructure and financial markets.

The Treasury Department has appointed C. Wayne Crowell to the board of Intervest Bancshares (IBCA) in New York.

The Dodd-Frank QM rule will restrict the availability of credit, but it can be less invasive if the CFPB develops a model that weighs all relevant risk factors, not just a few measures of capacity to repay, writes BankThink's Risk Doctor columnist.

Top regulators at the Fed, SEC, OCC, FDIC, CFPB and NCUA are warning that a Senate bill pending in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would undermine agency rulemaking authority.

The nation's top home lender has been mailing letters and refund checks to nearly 10,000 borrowers acknowledging that they received Federal Housing Administration loans when they would have qualified for less-expensive conventional financing.

Agencies based in Washington were mostly closed in anticipation of the storm, but officials said where possible support for banks and examiners would be made available.

Comptroller of the Currency Tom Curry said the agency is ready to "take action" against banks that lower provisions solely to boost short-term profits.