Policy & Regulation

The Financial Accounting Standards Board's accounting rules for credit risk have good intentions, but a likely amplification of the ups and downs of the credit market was probably not one of them.

Wells Fargo’s reputation as a consumer-friendly bank suffered a significant blow Thursday after it agreed to pay $190 million to settle charges that thousands of employees created unauthorized bank and credit card accounts for customers in order to collect bonuses for themselves.

In response to industry comments, the Federal Reserve said it would follow notice-and-comment procedures when exercising its countercyclical capital buffer authorities – a process whereby the biggest banks would hold an additional capital cushion to counteract overheated markets.

WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee will vote on a bill Tuesday that has been touted as a Dodd-Frank alternative and will likely set the marker for financial reform debates in the next Congress.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. would be among banks most impacted in recommendations issued Thursday by U.S. banking agencies that seek an end to merchant banking and a limit on Wall Street's ownership of physical commodities.

Within five years, a dramatic transformation of the mortgage market will force firms to expand product menus beyond mortgages to develop stronger relationships with their customers.

A likely sale of CIT Group's aircraft unit (and a whole lot of other stuff) is keeping Ellen Alemany busy, a former Wall Street banker talks about big data as a financial weapon of mass discrimination targeting women and the poor, and First Busey shows how investing in employees pays off. Also, TIAA's Kathie Andrade, Deloitte's Cathy Engelbert and (to spice things up) Victoria Beckham.

A rising number of banks are looking to become community development financial institutions, emboldened by low-cost capital and an exemption from the ability-to-repay rule.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $187.5 million to settle claims by federal regulators that the megabank wrongfully opened unauthorized bank and credit card accounts for more than 2 million customers.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $187.5 million to settle claims by federal regulators that the megabank wrongfully opened unauthorized bank and credit card accounts for more than 2 million customers.