Regulation

A top political prognosticator said the Occupy Wall Street crowd has a long way to go before they evolve into a political movement on par with the Tea Party.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has ordered West Coast Bank in Lake Oswego, Ore., to improve oversight of its overdraft program and reimburse customers who incurred overdraft fees last year using their debit or ATM cards.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., said Wednesday that it had received approval from the Treasury Department to redeem $193 million in preferred stock issued in December 2008 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The bureau has teamed up with the Department of Education on a financial aid shopping sheet that would help students compare offers from different schools, distinguish between scholarships and loans, and estimate their monthly debt payments after graduation.

Acting FDIC Chairman Marty Gruenberg reiterated his agency's support for small banks, but many bankers are unsure if it will lead to real change.

The huge debt of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, other government-sponsored enterprises and Ginnie Mae fully relies on the credit of the United States. It is in fact government debt, but it is not accounted for as government debt. It is not "considered officially to be part of the total debt of the federal government," the Federal Reserve coyly notes.

Bank executives, audit committees and shareholders risk additional scrutiny and unwelcome publicity under the best-case scenario – and audit failures under the worst case – if their auditor picks a fight with the PCAOB.

New fees from big banks are raising the questions of whether they will lead to an exodus of customers or if the cost of moving institutions is just too high. American Banker's Kevin Wack set out to answer that question by switching banks himself.

A flood of overdraft cases has streamed into the Miami courtroom of U.S. District Judge Lawrence King over the past two years, but a recent ruling by panel of federal judges may have turned off the spigot.

Regulations to implement the Volcker Rule have hit the street. Now a new phase of the battle to reign-in proprietary trading by banks is at hand. If past is prologue, a tough and divisive battle looms. Meanwhile, the industry, regulators and customers will be dealing with the uncertainty that has bedeviled all concerned since Dodd-Frank was enacted.