Regulation

Curry praised banks' tighter mortgage underwriting standards but cautioned that they are squeezing out potential borrowers, particularly low-income families and minorities

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, is leaving Congress in February to head the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

With just a few short weeks until Congress adjourns for the year, Washington is experiencing a rush of activity covering everything from a potential extention of the TAG program to the delay of the Volcker and remittance rules. Following were the highlights of last week:

Stewart Larsen, Bank of the West's head of mortgage lending, still frets about pending regulation, but he prefers to stay focused on matters he can control.

Several important bills, including one protecting information banks share with the CFPB and another nixing the requirement that banks have a physical sign disclosing ATM fees, could be poised for passage in the Senate during the lame duck session. But the fate of others, including an extension of TAG, is less clear.

The money in TAG accounts is the hottest of the hot. If interest rates rise, these funds will disappear, hurting liquidity and capital for the banks that use the program.

Adyen is launching a portable card reader that accepts both mag-stripe and EMV chip-card payments — the latter a feature that’s still rare in the U.S. even at hard-wired point of sale terminals.

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Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) in Moultrie, Ga., will redeem preferred shares it had issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Trouble Asset Relief Program.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling is criticizing a provision in a House-approved immigration bill that would extend higher guarantee fees at the government-sponsored enterprises.