Policy & Regulation

Japan's Financial Services Agency is nearing completion of an investigation into the local arm of U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc. on suspicion of lax compliance, with questions remaining over anti-money laundering controls, and will likely issue sanctions as early as next month, people familiar with the matter said Friday.

A watchdog agency's report reveals a mad dash in 2009 by B of A, Citi and other banks to repay their Tarp funds. Regulators clashed with each other over the repayment terms and ultimately relaxed their own rules.

Nine major servicers regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency completed 180,000 foreclosure actions in the second quarter, but these firms are still managing roughly 1.3 million borrowers who are going through the foreclosure process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is applauding the Treasury Department for guidance it issued Thursday that would help members of the military avoid foreclosure.

When Michel Barnier of the European Commission singled out auditors for enhanced scrutiny this week, he was reacting to anger, in Europe at least, over the "no bark, no bite" behavior of accounting "watchdogs" before, during, and after the financial crisis.

The Durbin Amendment on debit interchange has been cited as reason for banks to shutter branches. Still, some observers believe it is one of many factors, if not the scapegoat, for closures that were necessary regardless of regulatory change.

Is Bank of America charging for debit cards because it is shortsighted or because it is too bloated to compete against smaller institutions for consumer accounts?

At the bailout law's three-year anniversary, the Small Business Lending Fund has offered some banks a way out. But with that escape hatch now closed, roughly 400 small banks remain stuck in the program.

Bank of America Corp., the largest bank by assets, plans to start charging its checking customers $5 per month, or $60 annually, if they use their debit cards to make purchases. The fees will go into effect early next year.

"In financial ecosystems, evolutionary forces have often been survival of the fattest rather than the fittest." So says Andrew Haldane, Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England. He is right.