Regulation

The SEC's recent roundtable on ratings shopping in structured finance was a reminder of how efforts at reform are obstructed by a wall of denial.

President Obama said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed in his post "longer than he wanted," one of the clearest signals the central bank chief will leave when his current term expires next year.

JPMorgan Chase must defend itself against allegations that it charged millions of dollars in improper fees to mortgage borrowers who were in default, a federal judge has ruled.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that Arthur Murton will succeed James Wigand in managing the agency's responsibility under the Dodd-Frank Act to handle the wind-downs of failed behemoths.

Banks bulked up on collateralized loan obligations again in the first quarter for risk management and other purposes. But new deposit insurance rules are expected to deter them from buying more.

As the volume of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. suits against failed-bank officers and directors continues to rise, few cases are approaching anything close to an outcome.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has hired a lobbyist for the force-placed insurance industry as its point man in reforming a market allegedly riddled with industry kickbacks.

When the government backs any system, the beneficiaries have only limited interest in the risks they are taking. Senators Corker and Warner have fallen into this trap.

Many developed countries, free from the U.S. impulse to see every product as something to track, do not share its inclination to frown on financial privacy.

A fair-housing case provides the industry an opportunity to stamp out the longstanding legal theory that there can be lending discrimination without evidence of intent.