Policy & Regulation

Federal restrictions on debit interchange are still causing sleepless nights for many bankers — even those whose institutions are exempt from the new fee caps.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson's office is suing five Internet payday lenders that made loans to consumers in the state.

U.S. government-backed firms and agencies should "stop punishing banks" and suspend demands for mortgage repurchases because they are impeding an economic recovery, according to Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets & Co.

Banks with assets of less than $10 billion are exempt from the Dodd-Frank Act's restrictions on debit interchange, but even those who are exempt from the law are still bracing for what they see as its inevitable effects on their checking accounts and other operations.

In the 1980s Freddie Mac had a marketing campaign "The Gnomes Know," touting their expertise in mortgage markets. Now the Federal Housing Finance Agency has filed a $200 billion lawsuit against 17 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders arguing that during the subprime lending debacle of the last decade the gnomes didn't know!

Low-risk reinsurance vehicles amounted to illegal payoffs, the HUD Inspector General's office found in 2009. But the Department of Justice hasn't acted on the case referred by to it by HUD investigators.

Rep. Brad Miller says the overseer of Fannie and Freddie is to be commended for seeking to minimize taxpayer losses.

Is it worth delaying a bottoming-out of the housing market, and allowing some delinquent borrowers to freeload for a time, in order to prevent the rare but documented instances of someone being wrongly foreclosed on?

Senate Banking Committee members remain far more worried about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's governance than its prospective leader.

The FDIC has terminated its consent order against Clarkston State Bank in Michigan after the bank recapitalized with investments from private citizens and current board members and made improvements in managing its loan portfolio.