Regulation

The average credit union is billions of dollars smaller than the behemoth banks. And the overall quality of credit union business loans is much higher than that of bank commercial loans.

Reps. Barney Frank and Mike Capuano have introduced a new bill to combine the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, calling the existence of the two separate agencies a "structural defect."

Regulators sought to assure lawmakers and financial institutions on Thursday that they would weigh potential conflicts from a slew of proposed mortgage regulations due out shortly as they finalize Basel III capital and liquidity rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau raised concerns in a bulletin that consumer reporting agencies may be holding free information from their customers. They have issued warning letters to six agencies that have made it too difficult for consumers to find their annual reports.

Wintrust Financial would sell the $161 million in deposits and three branches it bought from the failed Second Federal Savings and Loan to a credit union. Regulators will OK such deals under the right conditions, experts say.

The incoming and outgoing chairmen of the House Financial Services Committee — Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Spencer Bachus, respectively — are urging banking regulators to delay implementation of the Volcker Rule until 2015.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it has issued warning letters to six specialty reporting agencies for making it too difficult for consumers to find their free annual reports.

Industry groups and consumer advocates have joined forces to urge lawmakers to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, warning that expiration of the 2007 law could hamper the housing recovery.

U.S. home-price gains this year weren't large enough to justify an increase in the maximum size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will purchase in 2013, the companies' regulator said today.

Consumer-focused regulations, in general, should reflect what financial products actually do, not the technicalities of who issues them or what legal status they hold.