Regulation

The 2009 law that restricts a range of fees and practices has become the devil you know for the credit card industry.

House lawmakers on Wednesday sharply questioned the speed of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's response to problems with its employee ratings system after discovering that a consulting firm identified disparities based on race, age and gender nearly eight months ago.

New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky said Wednesday his office will investigate claims that Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN) and other servicers require distressed borrowers to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to receive mortgage modifications.

Esther George, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said Wednesday that community banks are facing headwinds from low interest rates and the cost of complying with the Dodd-Frank Act.

Recently raised regulatory concerns about the massive transfer of mortgage servicing rights from banks to nonbanks are fueling industry hopes that policymakers may be open to addressing the issue.

Bank buyers and sellers should pay attention to the Fed's recent approval of Cullen/Frost's acquisition of WNB Bancshares. Cullen/Frost had to agree to improve its fair-lending and other functions, underscoring the importance of buyers who work well in resolving compliance and other problems with regulators.

The Senate confirmed economist Stanley Fischer to the Federal Reserve Board Wednesday afternoon.

Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday bestowed some advice to New York University's 2014 graduating class, telling them to be curious, listen to others and accept that failure is going to happen.

Before the FSOC or other agencies start to impose capital requirements on nonbank financial companies, let's make sure we understand the business models and the risks that these firms actually take.

A task force of state and federal authorities set up in 2012 to probe the mortgage-bond sales that fueled the financial crisis has "more than a dozen ongoing investigations," Michael P. Stephens, the acting inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said.