Regulation

Legislation to reform the Federal Housing Administration sailed through the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, but the bill's future, along with that of broader, comprehensive mortgage reform, remain up in the air as Congress prepares to break for the August recess on Friday.

The proposal has calculations that would address deficiencies, but also tries to balance risk sensitivity with not making the derivatives counterparty charges overly complex.

A federal judge's ruling on the Durbin Amendment is likely to cost the banking industry billions of dollars each year.

"An Alternative Plan to Fix TBTF: Lay Big Banks' Subsidy Bare" (July 25), on Professor Cornelius Hurley's plan to account for implicit government subsidies, is an important contribution to the conversation on how to end Too Big to Fail.

Retailers were singing the praises of a federal judge's ruling July 31 that the Federal Reserve Board overstepped its authority in how it capped debit-card fees. And banks were humming a different tune.

President Barack Obama plans to name Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin as deputy Treasury Secretary, making her the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Treasury department.

Relief bills are gaining momentum in Congress, leading many community bankers' to believe their regulatory burdens will ease by yearend.

The Senate Banking Committee approved legislation to reform the Federal Housing Administration on Wednesday to help stabilize the agency's beleaguered reverse mortgages program and strengthen its underwriting standards.

Federal regulators issued proposed guidance to help mid-tier banks comply with stress test requirements this October.

Just when banks thought they had adjusted to life under the Durbin cap on debit card interchange fees, a court has deal them a huge and unexpected blow. Bucking the usual judicial practice of deferring to regulators, a federal judge has ruled that the Fed set the cap too high at 21 cents and disregarded the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act. Expect appeals and a protracted fight that could take years to settle the matter.