Regulation

The House Financial Services Committee addressed concerns for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding the agency's implementation of derivatives provisions laid out in the Dodd-Frank Reform Act.

Dwight Fettig, the staff director of the Senate Banking Committee, will return to the private sector at yearend, while several other staffers are receiving promotions. Charles Yi, the chief counsel and deputy staff director, will succeed Fettig.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s board of directors voted to approve a $2.7 billion budget for 2013. With fewer anticipated costs for bank failures and their clean-ups, the budget for the upcoming year had an 18% drop from previous years.

Twitter's immense popularity has caught the attention of many established payment companies and entrepreneurs. Several have attempted to turn the microblogging service into a payment channel, but so far there are few success stories.

"Regulators from the U.S. and the United Kingdom took a major step Monday toward proving that they could dismantle a large globally active financial institution, outlining how the two sides would cooperate in the event of a cross-border resolution," writesAmerican Banker's Joe Adler.

A dispute in North Dakota over assessment fees for its state-owned bank could stymie efforts to open similar banks elsewhere.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a proposal Thursday that would let lenders test various disclosure programs on consumers in an effort to make disclosures more concise and cost-effective.

Some readers quickly labeled all 19 megabanks' failure to pass the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's new risk tests as evidence that "Too Big to Fail" remains very much alive. Others blamed the OCC's stricter standards.

Efforts to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee program were dealt a significant blow Thursday as senators blocked a vote on a two-year extension over objections it would cost the government money.

The Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency is trying to shift big bank execs' focus to risks in areas like governance, operations, internal controls and communications. So far, most are failing.