Regulation

The Federal Reserve and Commerzbank have reached an agreement over the German bank's antimoney-laundering controls and testing.

The Treasury Department has successfully sold off its shares in seven more community banks as part of its ongoing effort to wind down the four-year-old Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Many so-called consumer advocates doubt consumers can make responsible decisions about credit and believe they should be "protected" from certain financial products. We did not sense this sort of patronizing viewpoint from the new agency.

Behind the scenes, the system is getting safer as the largest banks re-focus on their strengths and dump businesses that don't fit the future they see for themselves. These narrower, but not necessarily smaller, banks should be easier to oversee, editor-at-large Barbara A. Rehm says.

WASHINGTON — Industry groups asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wednesday to convene a panel to review the potential effects of new mortgage lending standards on small businesses.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stood up to Democratic senators during a hearing on trading losses and managed to use the forum to argue against the Volcker Rule and other regulations.

Fannie Mae went in-house to recruit three of its last four CEOs, a strategy likely calculated to rebuild internal morale. Freddie Mac hired three of its last four chiefs from outside, signaling continued housecleaning.

Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase easily won a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday probing the more than $2 billion loss at his firm, signaling that his star status on Capitol Hill remains relatively unchanged despite ongoing questions about the unusual trades.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will use the data to make recommendations to Congress, which could include changes to the private student loan market.

The former chief executive of a failed Florida community bank has been sentenced to six years in prison for lying to regulators about the bank's condition.