Regulation

Advocates blame the securitization-financed, institutional-scale landlords for astronomical rents and poor maintenance and call for Congressional hearings and government oversight.

Most big banks have reported lower revenue for the second quarter, the downside of trying to beef up loans in a hotly competitive, low-rate lending market. Earnings reports at BB&T and SunTrust shed light on the problems of yield and margin that lie below the surface throughout the industry and threaten growth prospects.

Top lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee debated the value of the Dodd-Frank Act in dueling reports on Monday, commemorating the financial reform law's fourth anniversary.

As the Dodd-Frank law turns four years old, policymakers appear increasingly willing to revisit a key requirement that says banks with $50 billion of assets are systemically risky.

Recent calls in Congress to take a closer look at the quasi-governmental Farm Credit System and its regulator have pleased bankers, who want to bring attention to their complaints of unfair competition.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday that it is accepting consumer complaints on prepaid cards and other non-bank products such as credit repair services and pawnshop loans.

SunTrust Banks is planning to sell $2.1 billion in government-guaranteed, performing residential mortgages this quarter, after selling $325 million last quarter, to meet proposed Basel III regulatory liquidity coverage ratios.

Dodd-Frank encourages the pursuit of financial stability at the expense of economic growth. Congress can fix the problem by amending the law so that regulators are required to balance both goals, writes Paul H. Kupiec of the American Enterprise Institute.

Decisions about how to apply U.S. swaps trading rules abroad should be based less on fears of risk to the financial system and more on considerations of market integrity, according to attorney Timothy Karpoff.

Supporters of Bitcoin and other digital currencies have created a trade association called the Chamber of Digital Commerce to make their voices heard in Washington.