Policy & Regulation

A U.S. district court has banned a mortgage-relief business that operated a scheme causing consumer losses of nearly $19 million from doing further business.

Rather than wait for government or plaintiff lawyers to find them, banks that were involved in the syndication of mortgage backed securities should control their exposure through a proactive, rigorous self-study program.

Many small banks have never accepted that an exemption from the Durbin amendment will protect them from the measure's roughly 50% cut in debit interchange rates.

Senior Fed officials met Monday in a closed session on Capital One Financial Corp.'s pending acquisition of the U.S. online banking unit of ING Group but did not make a decision. It had delayed a meeting on the deal last week.

The premium increase, expected to be announced in the next week, is one of a series of steps the FHA is taking to avoid a taxpayer bailout.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has requested $448 million from the Federal Reserve in 2013, according to the president's budget proposal, which also outlines the fees that regulators expect to collect from banks this year and would provide significant increases for the CFTC.

The mortgage settlement was a political coup for President Obama and state attorneys general. For banks, it was merely the latest turn in a long and winding effort to put housing problems behind them.

The administration's proposal predicts the fund will return to the red through 2015. But its estimates are inconsistent with FDIC projections, which industry officials like Jim Chessen said were more reliable.

Greg Gonzales closed two banks last month and a slew of new problem banks could keep him busy this year. In a recent interview, he says his strategy gives struggling banks a reality check, but enough rope as possible to solve their problems.

The White House plans to ask the largest U.S. firms to pay a $61 billion 'bank tax,' part of which will be used to pay for the administration's massive refinancing plan.