Economy

Orrstown Financial in Shippensburg, Pa., has agreed to pay a $1 million to settle charges that it misled investors as it raised capital in the wake of the financial crisis.

In a stunning move, the European Union signaled that it will not follow the Basel Committee's recommendations on standardized credit, operational and market risk rules, citing concerns that the direction of the proposals would unduly increase capital requirements and stifle economic growth.

Last week's Senate hearing was bad for Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, but Thursday's House appearance was even worse. Lawmakers moved beyond calling for Stumpf to resign, and said Wells Fargo should be broken up and Stumpf should go to jail.

WASHINGTON — More than one hundred House Democrats sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on Wednesday calling for the agency to strengthen its proposal to rein in payday lending.

Gary "Litefoot" Davis, a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and a music and on-screen personality, was named executive director of the Native American Financial Services Association.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen testified for the second consecutive year on regulatory issues, touching on the Fed's stress tests, banks' ownership of commodities, the fate of Wells Fargo and whether the central bank acts in a political fashion.

WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Banking Committee introduced legislation Wednesday that would make municipal debt securities more attractive to banks.

Following industry objections to how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. defines brokered deposits, a House panel heard testimony Tuesday on a series of bills that would amend the definition.

The Federal Housing Administration issued a proposal Tuesday that would make it easier for lenders to secure government guarantees for condominium loans.

Since John Stumpf's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee last week, the situation has become even worse for the Wells Fargo CEO, with new lawsuits filed, the Labor Department opening an investigation and the CFTC fining it for an unrelated action. Here's what to expect when Stumpf appears in the House on Thursday.

The bad-news stories about the largest institutions are worrisome in light of housing finance proposals that could benefit the big banks even more.

Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo laid out a sweeping vision of the future of the central bank's hallmark supervisory stress testing program — a vision that involves major concessions to midsize regionals and puts added pressure of the largest and most systemically risky banks.

The $2.2 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it redeemed $12.2 million, the remaining half of its SBLF shares, on Sept. 22 at a liquidation value of $1,000 each for $12.4 million.

In a speech Monday, Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo outlined sweeping changes to the Fed's hallmark supervisory program, including bank-specific — but substantially higher — capital minimums and dropping a qualitative grade for all but the largest and most complex banks.

Randolph Bancorp raised $57 million in a mutual-to-stock conversion and is using the proceeds to fund acquisitions — it closed its first-ever deal in July — and dramatically improve its digital capabilities.

Financial institutions must act on the "urgent and fundamental" need to transform the correspondent banking system, the consulting firm said in an annual report on global payments.

Both government-sponsored enterprises discount the rates on loans for buildings with "green" certifications; they also underwrite some of the projected savings from upgrades on buildings of a certain age, allowing owners to take out bigger loans.

In an announcement Friday afternoon, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said his regional bank is launching an "Agenda on Poverty and Prosperity" to provide research and recommendations to Fed leaders on the interaction between poverty and economic growth.

Fannie Mae employees will be working this weekend to update the agency's automated underwriting machine to process trended data for the first time.

Independent sales organizations and independent software vendors are equally threatened by disruption, making an alliance a logical — if uneasy — step for both groups.