Regulation

WASHINGTON — First International Bank in Plano, Texas, became the year's 74th failed institution late Friday.

Consumers could save upwards of $63 billion a year if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac participate in a workable refinancing program for underwater borrowers, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Efforts to negotiate a settlement between state attorneys general and the top five mortgage servicers collapsed Friday after California pulled out the negotiations.

B. Riley & Co. analyst Rich Eckert thinks the government "should get out of the way" of the housing market, and discussing the potential effects of mortgage refinancing programs.

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris pulled out Friday of state and U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the government's investigation of alleged foreclosure abuses, calling the proposed settlement "inadequate for California homeowners."

A Virginia mortgage lender has agreed to pay $140,000 in compensation and revise its pricing policies to settle a lawsuit alleging that it discriminated against minority borrowers, the Justice Department said Friday.

The HUD inspector general wants the Federal Housing Administration to ban corporate officers from the FHA program if they have left a company that has not met its obligations to indemnify the government for delinquent loans.

Last week, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced plans to oversee how each country implements the new capital standards. But such a step may signal problems before the final rules are even adopted.

The Federal Reserve Board's controversial decision to rejigger its securities portfolio was right given the economy's weak outlook and the likely slowdown in consumer price inflation in 2012, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland says.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected to vote next week on the nomination of Richard Corday to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.