Compliance

MasterCard Inc., the second-largest U.S. payments network, posted fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as customer spending climbed.

In yet another revision of its mortgage rules, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed making it easier for small and rural lenders to make "qualified mortgages." Industry representatives said the changes are poised to make a big difference.

No matter how the European payments landscape looks after the European Commission's new version of the Payment Services Directive takes effect, merchants can almost certainly expect lower rates for accepting card transactions.

Visa Inc., the world's largest payments network, posted fiscal first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as card spending increased.

NCUA, in partnership with the State Liaison Committee (SLC) of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), announced new guidance for credit unions and banks on private student loans with graduated repayment terms at origination.

Banks have made progress cutting their exposure to risky home equity lines of credit, ahead of a key 10-year threshold when billions of dollars of them will reset to higher monthly payments. But there are some prominent exceptions, especially among regional banks.

New York Community Bancorp wants Washington to raise the asset size for systemically important financial institutions, but in the meanwhile its asset sales to stay under the threshold helped to boost profits and its CEO is pursuing possible M&A deals.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday proposed a series of regulatory relief measures for small institutions, especially those in rural areas, to help them provide credit while they try to follow the agency's tough mortgage rules.

Banks partnering with prepaid card providers face the potential of higher deposit insurance fees and other ramifications from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. classifying accounts as "brokered."

President Obama is urging Congress to pass “The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act” as one of a handful of new initiatives to better secure personal information from cybercriminals.

Dumping entire categories of clients is a crude and inappropriate reaction to large fines, says Stephen Platt, author of Criminal Capital: How the Finance Industry Facilitates Crime." However, he says, regulators should hold a dialogue with banks and attempt to accommodate businesses that carry high risk but whose services are desperately required, such as remittances to war-torn Somalia.

Banks partnering with prepaid card providers face the potential of higher deposit insurance fees and other ramifications from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. classifying accounts as "brokered."

At a hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers hammered FHFA Director Mel Watt for four hours over his recent decisions to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans with lower downpayments and provide money to two affordable housing trust funds.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a bulletin Tuesday warning financial institutions about entering into agreements with third parties that share or hide information related to regulatory exams.

Peer-to-peer and institution-to-small business loan marketplace Funding Circle launched a new fractional loan marketplace today, the San Francisco company announced.

They included owners and managers of a photo scanning business, an auto repair shop, an office supplies provider, a furniture retailer and a family-run electronics store.

The Federal Reserve System threw its weight behind a host of standards, goals and timelines yesterday that are likely to shape the quest to build a faster U.S. payment system.

The Federal Reserve System released a detailed vision for improving the speed of the U.S. payment system. It is latest step in a process meant to spur change at a time when the country has fallen far behind many nations that have adopted real-time payments.

Janell Thompson and Katarina Maloney say choosing the "wrong" name for their company was all it took to run afoul of banks and be labeled as co-owners of a high-risk business.

California's Department of Business Oversight said Friday that it will drop its effort to suspend Ocwen Loan Servicing's mortgage license in California. The Atlanta servicer had failed for more than a year to provide its California regulator with requested information