Policy & Regulation

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on the financial services panel introduced legislation Wednesday that would help banks remotely open accounts.

As the financial world comes to grips with the news that the European Union has no intention of implementing the final elements of Basel III, observers are scrambling to figure out how much impact the split could have on U.S. banks and global financial stability.

If Wells Fargo employees were fired for trying to stop the bank’s improper account practices, as has been claimed in court, it shines a spotlight on the need for more whistleblower assistance.

Fourteen senators including Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for the Justice Department to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by senior executives at Wells Fargo.

Community bankers say that reclassifying "reciprocal deposits" as a less risky type of deposit will help them to compete with large banks. Some deposit brokers are crying foul, arguing that the proposed legislation would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Observers, meanwhile, say the bill is so narrowly written that it would hardly affect competition.

The agency said Wednesday it has received more than 500,000 comments on the proposal — and many more may be filed in the coming days.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued long-awaited guidance Wednesday directing banks to follow a series of best practices before deciding to cut off correspondent banking relationships.

Bankers already scrambling to comply with a number of different federal cybersecurity standards are raising concerns about a proposal from New York to layer on some additional state rules.

The biggest surprise for many who awaited the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule for prepaid cards was discovering that its reach extends to some of the payments industry’s highest-profile tech firms, such as PayPal Inc.’s Venmo, Square Inc.’s Square Cash and Dwolla.

Popular Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will take a $55 million hit to third-quarter earnings after its bank lost an arbitration battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.