Regulation

Re: "Conspiracy Theories on Low Failure Rate Don't Hold Water"

The slowdown in bank failures has conspiracy theorists looking for a cause, but the truth is likely a lot less exciting: The slowdown may simply reflect a stabilized industry.

Merchants will have a difficult time reaping all the benefits they stand to gain from a pending antitrust settlement between the two largest U.S. credit card networks and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker Wednesday alleged that Republican members of a special financial-crisis investigation panel were driven more by politics than by probing the causes of the crisis.

WASHINGTON — A House Financial Services subcommittee late Tuesday approved six bills that would rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but that fall short of comprehensive changes to the housing finance system.

WASHINGTON — Without a permanent director in place, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gave fair warning Tuesday it plans to start monitoring the industry's largest banks for consumer abuses in just over a week.

In recent weeks we have been treated to several regulatory observations and preliminary decisions about the appropriate level of bank capital. A few comments have come from U. S. bank regulators. A major recent pronouncement came from the Bank for International Settlements, more commonly known by the name of the Swiss city where the bank is located — Basel.

The largest bank holding company in the U.S. is shooting for only 7% of Basel III Tier 1 common equity. Come again?

While other regulators busily check off implementation goals set by last year's financial reform law, the new body charged with limiting threats to the financial system is getting lost in the shuffle.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board Tuesday published a list of which banks must comply with the central bank's cap on debit-card swipe fees, as well as a list of those exempt from the cap (see list).