Regulation

American International Group Inc. (AIG) will return funds to customers at its banking unit and shut their accounts amid a retreat from deposit-taking as the Dodd-Frank Act places limits on insurers.

The federal complaint against Castle & Cooke Mortgage issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau looks to be the first of many enforcement actions taken against mortgage originators for failing to follow new loan officer compensation rules.

Bitcoin, a decentralized virtual currency, has been declared illegal in Thailand. Members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department made the determination at a meeting on July 29 in the Southeastern Asian country, according to a Bitcoin exchange operator in attendance.

MainSource Financial Group (MSFG) in Greensburg, Ind., has been cleared to redeem the last of the preferred stock it had issued through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Modern banking exposes our financial system to considerable risks. Government attempts to contain these risks exacerbate them. Here’s a proposed alternative: A “Depositary” that stores money for a fee without lending.

Visa and MasterCard may differ on their support of chip-and-PIN in the U.S., but they are of one mind in their approach to Australia.

Wells Fargo has temporarily stopped selling defaulted consumer debts to collections agencies. Its move follows a more drastic pullback by JPMorgan Chase and a regulatory crackdown on the collections industry.

Inspired by his old boss Ted Kennedy and steeped in the legal issues surrounding bank regulation, Daniel Tarullo, the Federal Reserve's dominant voice on supervision matters, has amassed significant influence both at home and abroad, as he helps to carry out a major reshaping of the rules governing U.S. banks and the global financial system.

The threat of regulators kicking banks out of the commodities business is driving fears that market liquidity and competition will suffer as a result.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.