Regulation

Today's harsh regulatory environment is sapping community banks of the time, money and staffers they previously dedicated to financial literacy efforts.

The dim prospects for Congress doing anything to overhaul the system dominated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac leave a host of big questions about what happens to the mortgage sector going forward.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley reiterated calls Wednesday for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer principal reductions to distressed borrowers and to participate in nonprofit home buyback programs.

Midwestern community banks are in their best financial condition since early 2009, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a May 13 report.

Kennebec Savings Bank has a 19th century charter, but it is poised for a complex conversion to deal with modern challenges like activists investors, M&A pressures and even Basel III.

Canada's banking regulator said it will review candidates for senior management positions at financial institutions before they're hired.

Regulators are now demanding every last detail to be put in writing; the upshot is that banks may be forced to cut ties with vendors that can't meet all requirements. Still, experts say more ironclad language is ultimately good for banks because it gives them protections they haven't always had.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry told a room full of state commissioners Wednesday that regulators need to "step up their game" rather than get caught up in competition between state and federal agencies.

Banks should view the recent influx of regulations on small-dollar credit loans as a chance to develop products that are at once profitable and safe for consumers.

Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC) in Green Bay, Wis., has been hit with a $500,000 fine by regulators for deficiencies in its anti-money laundering compliance procedures.