Regulation

They are inching closer to complying with the $25 billion national settlement but the latest report from monitor Joseph Smith has found that there is still a little more work to be done.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken a cautious approach to its oversight of payday lenders so far, but is likely to issue new regulations covering the industry next year, according to several observers.

There’s a reason most Americans still like their local banks, even if they detest the megabanks after the financial crisis.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. all announced plans to hold public board meetings on Dec. 10 to vote on a final Volcker Rule.

Frustrated by the lack of new banking charters, two banking trade groups are urging the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to relax restrictions on startup institutions.

In the end, we will once again have a system that looks suspiciously like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac redux, with a housing bubble, a mortgage meltdown and a financial crisis.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is a rare government agency that funds private enforcement of its own regulations. It does so via its Fair Housing Initiatives Program, which offers grants to nonprofits to carry out the work.

The National Fair Housing Alliance's claims that banks have failed to maintain homes in minority neighborhoods are based on shaky factual and legal ground. However, alliances between the nonprofit and its allies in government may leave bankers with little choice but to settle.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s history, structure and effectiveness during the financial crisis have helped guide the discussion of housing finance reform, inspiring Senate lawmakers to push an FDIC-like system for the mortgage industry.

Banking regulators appeared on course Tuesday to vote on a final rule to ban proprietary trading at U.S. financial institutions ahead of a year-end deadline.