Regulation

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday agreed to softly pare back its asset purchases by $10 billion, taking the first step in unwinding its controversial bond buying program.

If compliance burden sends traders packing for Russia, Brazil or Mexico, the U.S. would lose not only investment capital but also the ability to monitor algorithmic trading for manipulative practices.

What we have seen from the bank regulatory agencies is an unsustainable proliferation of rules. Big banks are taking on water to keep up, while community banks are being swamped.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over Washington Mutual's legal liabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Financial Institutions already disclose their agreements with schools that allow marketing of credit cards, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that should be extended to debit, prepaid and other products as well.

JPMorgan Chase pressured customers to repay debts they did not owe, sold collections agencies rights to credit card accounts that had been extinguished in bankruptcy and tolerated frequent errors by its third-party collections attorneys, according to a lawsuit filed by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood on Tuesday.

The diverging responses of the nation's biggest bank and its largest retailer illustrate the broad divide that the Federal Reserve will be seeking to bridge in its effort to encourage a speedier payments infrastructure within a decade.

The final Volcker Rule is much friendlier to syndicated lenders and collateralized loan obligations than earlier versions. However, some banks will still have to divest some CLO holdings, and leveraged lenders face other regulatory challenges.

A group of Democratic senators introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit employers from requiring applicants to disclose their credit history as part of the hiring process.

The Office of Financial Research released a report Tuesday that cited continued risks from a reliance on short-term wholesale funding and unveiled an early prototype for how it plans to track threats to the financial system.