Regulation

The state of Illinois is suing Safeguard Properties, alleging that it illegally broke into occupied homes of people in foreclosure or behind on their mortgages and locked them out or removed their belongings.

If you stop by bar Room77 in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood for a beer, you can leave the euros in your wallet and instead pay with the digital currency Bitcoin—a growing phenomenon in Germany and other countries that are changing their views on the currency.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. may settle regulators' probes into the bank's credit-card debt collection practices and sales of identity-theft products as early as next week.

Filmmaker Jim Bruce has produced a devastating documentary that uses Fed veterans, such as Peter Fisher, to explain how the central bank pumps up asset bubbles.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. may settle regulators’ probes into the bank’s credit-card debt collection practices and sales of identity-theft products as early as next week, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Financial institutions are required to thoroughly "know" their customers and vet transactions for potential criminal connections in a way that other critical service industries are not. (Imagine an electric company quizzing its customers about what appliances they plug into the wall.) Ellen Zimiles, a former assistant U.S. attorney who now heads the global investigations and compliance practice at Navigant Consulting, explains why banks have been given special responsibilities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is urging banks to strengthen their oversight of the home appraisal process and warning them to keep an eye out for a sudden spike in delinquencies on home-equity loans.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sought to allay lender fears Wednesday about the agency's new mortgage rules, pledging to be flexible with companies struggling to comply by the January deadline.

Banks need to revamp customer service operations so unhappy consumers complain to them rather than to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where a complaint could spark added regulatory scrutiny.

Responding to potential enforcement actions has become even more challenging because the number of agencies with concurrent jurisdiction has increased, and the authorities of those agencies have been broadened.