Regulation

Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen is facing the first real test to her agency's independence during her tenure, as House Republicans push a bill designed to broaden congressional oversight of the central bank and tie its hands regarding monetary policy.

The Export-Import Bank benefits just a handful of American companies and is weighed down by corruption, writes Ryan Young of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Regulators' blunt criticism of resolution plans of the 11 most complex banks still leaves pivotal questions about how the process moves forward, including what banks must do to avoid serious consequences.

Banks and other lenders appear to be waiting on a regulatory signal from the Federal Housing Finance Agency before approving loans for borrowers with less than stellar credit profiles.

Recent remarks by European politicians and HSBC chairman Douglas Flint are indicative of a mindset that's more interested in complaining about regulations than managing risk, according to Mayra Rodriguez Valladares.

Fed Gov. Tarullo's suggestion that directors should be more engaged in risk oversight is a dangerous development that, if implemented, would expose directors to more lawsuits and further discourage capable people from serving on boards, writes banking attorney John Gorman.

U.S. banks spent much of the last five years grappling with the legal fallout from the subprime housing bubble. Now, with the launch of a surprise inquiry by a hard-charging federal prosecutor in New York, lenders are wondering if subprime auto loans are next.

Bank of America Corp. is nearing a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in which it will pay between $16 billion and $17 billion to resolve probes into its sale of mortgage-backed bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter said.

FICO in San Jose, Calif., has launched a credit risk prognosis tool financial institutions can use to stress-test their consumer loan portfolios.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau named 10 banks and credit unions on Wednesday that it claimed were not being transparent about their agreements with large universities to market financial products to students.