Policy & Regulation

Although Republicans appear open to a bill that would make it easier for borrowers to refinance their mortgages, Democrats are balking at requests that the legislation also include measures to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other things.

Central bank policy rates, overnight unsecured borrowing rates, commercial paper rates, Treasury bills and repo rates all would be open to potential manipulation, just like Libor.

Bank of America has ceased selling all payment protection plans to credit card customers, killing off a business line targeted by regulators.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. next Tuesday will release its latest quarterly update on earnings, loan growth and other indicators for the entire banking industry.

If the Shazam electronic funds transfer network had its way, smart cards issued with EMV chips would require a single PIN that would both open the chip and route the transaction for settlement. But "that's still under discussion," an exec says.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency took another step to alleviate burden on borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments.

Regulatory agencies have jointly proposed new standards, required by Dodd-Frank, for mortgage appraisals. But many of the standards “have largely already been adopted by the industry, observers said, due to the fallout from the housing crisis,” write American Banker’s Joe Adler and Kate Berry.

Yes, megabanks provide useful, all-in-one services. But their biggest customers challenge the argument that they need financial behemoths to operate globally.

Yes, megabanks provide useful, all-in-one services. But their biggest customers challenge the argument that financial behemoths should be held together for their sake.

Big businesses' mixed feelings about their large bank partners are especially obvious when the conversation turns to proposed reforms of money-market funds, which corporate treasurers say could increase the power of "too big to fail" banks.