Regulation

The complaint against Wells Fargo highlights problems in comparing borrowers from different racial and ethnic groups.

The creation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an emphasis from all regulators on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices has created new staffing demands. “Banks are scrambling to find compliance personnel with expertise in consumer protection law,” writes American Banker’s Andy Peters.

Federal investigators charged a Minnesota debt collector with using his access to credit bureaus and consumer databases to steal identities and defraud financial institutions.

Almost two-thirds of small businesses in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's region that sought credit received some form of financing, according to a poll conducted by the bank during the second quarter.

With advances for the Federal Home Loan Banks flat at the end of last quarter compared with yearend 2011, the system gets help from lower OTTI charges and end of thrift-crisis fund.

After Julie Williams, the longtime No. 2 at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, announced she was leaving, one question dominated the resulting discussion: Was she pushed out or did she jump?

This year's drought could cause many farmers to default on ag loans, particularly those tied to livestock. For banks with high concentrations of ag loans, the drought poses the first major credit challenge since the financial crisis.

Ginnie Mae is considering raising minimum net-worth requirements for issuers of its mortgage-backed securities after being deluged with applications from small mortgage banks. Disruptions in the mortgage market prompted the rush.

Julie Williams, one of the nation's pivotal regulators for large banks, announced her departure from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency effective Sept. 30.

C. Boyden Gray, the lawyer involved in the suit challenging the constitutionality of the CFPB, writes in the Washington Times that "the new regulatory regime primarily helps the big banks while placing its heaviest burdens on community banks.”