Regulation

With loan demand still weak in many areas of the country, more and more bankers are starting to believe that their banks will need to merge with other institutions to achieve meaningful growth.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans celebrated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's first day by advancing a bill that would dilute the bureau's authority.

New report from the Federal Reserve estimates the cost to consumers last year for using government prepaid cards.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent letters Thursday to the 111 large banks it plans to supervise, outlining its approach to bank supervision and enforcement.

On the one-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, Democratic lawmakers and key financial regulators called on Congress to resist Republican efforts to cut funding to implement and enforce the law's sweeping new regulations.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said he would back a more explicit pledge by the central bank to keep interest rates low if the third quarter proves to be weak, and doesn't rule out the possibility that near-zero rates will rise after mid-2012.

The Treasury Department has ordered board appointments to two banking companies that have missed dividend payments on its bailout investments.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

WASHINGTON — As regulators continue to implement the Dodd-Frank Act one year after its passage, a key backer of financial reforms in the Senate warned "the battle is not over."

Banks are moving closer to getting the threshold raised for SEC stock registration.