Regulation

President Obama called for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be eliminated, but Democratic policymakers attending the convention in Philadelphia appear resigned to the fact that Congress is unable to act on housing finance reform.

Nearly all publicly traded equities and a majority of bonds are owned not by the investors themselves but by a little-known entity called Cede & Co. This attenuation of property rights creates systemic risk, but an effort is underway to transform the system.

As if high default costs haven't been challenging enough for mortgage servicers, a growing number of seriously delinquent loans are Federal Housing Administration products, which require significant upfront investment to resolve.

Starting in 2010, regulators warned banks about the risks associated with rising interest rates. The problem has turned out to be just the opposite: persistently low rates.

More than 40% of consumers with complaints about debt collections say they were asked to pay debts they didn't owe. There are a host of reasons for the problem, including inscrutable legal disclosures.

E-commerce carries the promise of transactions without borders or brick and mortar, but it's still a challenge to enter a new market, according to WePay CEO Bill Clerico.

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae is making its housing counseling requirements more flexible so additional borrowers can qualify for its low-down-payment, affordable loan program called HomeReady.

State Street has agreed to pay $382.4 million to settle U.S. authorities' allegations that it applied hidden markups to clients' currency trades.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to unveil a sweeping proposal on debt collection practices this week that would force banks and credit card companies for the first time to comply with federal restrictions. It said the plan would put an end to some of the most egregious practices in the $13.7 billion debt collection industry.

In the years after the financial crisis, as banks were collapsing left and right, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreed to cover losses tied to the sale of many failed institutions. Today, loss-share portfolios are shrinking, decreasing by 80% from early 2011, to $18.8 billion at March 31, as many banks negotiate early terminations of their FDIC agreements. Here are some notable banks that got out of their pacts.