Policy & Regulation

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin is calling on Wells Fargo to explain why it needs to impose new debit card fees when it posted a 21% increase in third quarter profits.

Washington's newest super-agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sprang into life in July. That bureau was granted remarkable powers by Congress. Consumers and businesses alike will depend on the stability and effectiveness of the new bureau. However, Congress unwittingly may have infected the bureau with the equivalent of a latent computer virus that could damage the CFPB's ability to function, and shatter the expectations of its supporters.

Hubert Humphrey, the former Minnesota attorney general, will serve as director of the CFPB's Office of Older Americans.

Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Mitt Romney all played defense on the issue of bailouts during last night's Republican debate.

The policy focus should be how to ensure no single financial institution becomes a single point of systemic failure – not how to mitigate the fallout when a SIFI fails.

TCF Financial Corp. in Wayzata, Minn., has promoted its chief risk officer, Barry N. Winslow, to head of corporate development as part of a broad management realignment aimed at better competing in an increasingly challenging banking climate.

During testimony on Capitol Hill, the Treasury secretary faces criticism from members of both parties over a slow-moving, smaller-than-expected initiative to boost lending to small businesses.

State attorneys general said issues around the bureau's leadership structure should not stop White House nominee from getting director's job.

Obama singled out Wall Street three times in a speech designed to defend his jobs plan against a Republican alternative in front of a select group of attendees and media at a YMCA gymnasium.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said central banks must pay equal attention to financial stability as on their monetary policy actions.