Regulation

The Federal Reserve Board has ended a written agreement with Premier Financial that required the Dubuque, Iowa, company to develop a plan to maintain sufficient capital and an adequate allowance for loan and leases losses.

A proposal by San Bernardino County to use eminent domain to take control of underwater mortgages would hurt government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. It would also hurt plans to reduce the government's role in housing.

Magna Bank in Memphis, Tenn. has switched to a state charter, dumping the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in favor of a state regulator that management believes is more familiar with its local market.

The CEO of State National Bank of Big Spring faced pushback from House Democrats over his argument that Dodd-Frank is squeezing small banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is delaying a decision on the definition of "large market participant' for the collection industry, Peggy Twohig, assistant director of nonbank supervision for the agency said Thursday at ACA International's Annual Convention.

New analysis from a nonpartisan group shows that JPMorgan officials accounted for 18% of all industry meetings with the Fed concerning Dodd-Frank implementation over the past two years, while JPMorgan accounted for 17% of all meetings with Treasury. Goldman Sachs, which also held hundreds of discussions with regulators, focused mainly on the CFTC.

"The Daily Show" host took several sharp stabs at the growing Libor scandal on Wednesday night, equating the bankers that manipulated the interbank lending rate with the villains of a "Da Vinci Code"-type thriller.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council voted to designate eight financial-market utilities as "systemically important." They will will be subject to heightened risk management standards under Dodd-Frank.

From the Card Act to the CFPB to Durbin, new regulations succeed only in raising the prices or crimping availability of financial services. Memo to politicians: Google "unintended consequences."

You can't claim to be a victim of watchdogs and at the same time blame watchdogs for being dumb, inept and disorganized.