Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday initiated an administrative proceeding against PHH Corp. and its affiliates, alleging PHH harmed consumers through a mortgage insurance kickback scheme that started as early as 1995.

In a long-awaited move that's expected to reduce origination costs and streamline lenders' processes, the Federal Housing Administration will immediately start accepting electronic signatures on all mortgage insurance endorsement and servicing documents, and will accept e-signatures on promissory notes beginning Dec. 31.

Without naming names, the CFPB said in a report released Thursday that, based on its examinations, servicers made borrowers jump through hoops to qualify for loan modifications and were lax about maintaining accurate records.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, rarely sounds ambivalent. But when the topic is something as unprecedented and complex as Bitcoin, the big questions appear to give him pause.

Regulators are signing bilateral MOUs and advancing strategies meant to avoid ring-fencing, but some say more binding pacts should govern cross-border resolutions.

Lenders are loosening underwriting standards for nearly every type of credit except for some home equity lines, according to a report issued Thursday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Merchants can't pass the blame for data breaches onto financial institutions because protecting consumers is a shared responsibility where both sides have to meet their responsibilities.

President Obama's announcement of a new retirement plan for low- to middle-income Americans in his State of the Union address drew scorn from advisors who say many big questions remain to be answered.

Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research, on Wednesday tried to assuage fears by Republican senators that a recent report on the asset management industry could serve as the basis for a designation that such firms are systemically important.

House lawmakers passed a huge agriculture bill Wednesday morning, after political gridlock on key measures like food stamps stalled proceedings for more than two years.