Policy & Regulation

Chicago's City Council published an ordinance Thursday that would require banks, mortgage servicers and institutional investors to provide maintenance and upkeep of vacant properties before the homes have gone through foreclosure.

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Warren has headed back to Massachusetts, but she remains engaged in the partisan fight in Washington over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the nominations for three key financial services positions on Thursday.

Regional-sized bank holding companies, which must submit resolution plans, say their rules should not mirror those of the biggest firms.

Government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac told investors this month that it is not considering "significant discount pricing" when selling its backlog of foreclosed homes, according to a letter obtained by American Banker. A spokesman said the agency doesn't want to "tank" the housing market.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a written agreement with Stonebridge Financial Corp. in West Chester, Pa.

American banks aren't the only ones protesting a capital surcharge on systemically important institutions.

Maryland's Court of Appeals on Wednesday approved changes to the state's Rules of Procedure that will force companies that buy past-due consumer debts - and try to collect by suing - to present sufficient evidence to support their claims, according to Jonathan F. Harris, an attorney with the Public Justice Center, a Baltimore-based legal advocacy group.

Foreclosures continue to decimate communities around the nation, with black neighborhoods being the hardest hit. Some pundits and politicians point to federal policies that encouraged homeownership in low- and moderate-income communities, coupled with reckless behavior on the part of greedy homeowners, as the crux of the problem. One example is the statement by Fox News reporter Neil Cavuto that "loaning to minorities and risky borrowers is a disaster." To the contrary, our recent research demonstrates that it is outside investors living in other, predominantly white neighborhoods, not local homeowners, who account for the adverse impact on our nation's black communities.

Capitol Federal Financial Inc. in Topeka, Kan., has decided to wait until its one-year anniversary as a 100% stock-owned company before before pursuing a stock buyback program.