Economy

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board released an interim rule Thursday implementing a congressionally mandated reduction in the Fed dividend for banks with over $10 billion in assets.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt stopped short of calling for Treasury to recapitalize the government-sponsored enterprises, but said "something needs to be done" before they run out of capital.

Mondo, a U.K. challenger bank, plans to make it easy for customers to use financial products and services from other companies. Rather than giving away the store, the bank says this approach will make it a marketplace.

Lenders are still holding on to scores of delinquent mortgages that date to the real estate crash, but a surge in home values across the country is motivating them to move the most troublesome loans off their books more quickly.

The Mortgage Bankers Association increased its 2016 industry originations forecast to $1.48 trillion from its January projection of $1.38 trillion to reflect market turmoil that has held interest rates down.

Freddie Mac on Thursday reported strong fourth quarter and year-end profits driven by a surge in demand for both home purchase and apartment loans.

Troubled loans no longer overwhelm the market, but there could be smaller outbreaks that servicers must be ready to deal with, a real estate services vendor says.

Banks are enthusiastic about innovation that involves both traditional institutions and nonbanks, but a more cohesive regulatory landscape is needed for cooperation between banks and fintech to grow even more.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is launching a 10-day social media campaign, #HARPNow, to alert struggling homeowners in 10 states that they can still refinance via the program before it expires at year-end.

About 10% of midsize businesses say they want to develop a relationship with nonbank providers, such as marketplace lenders or business development companies, and even more are said to be considering switching banks.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is moving forward with a plan to force big banks to keep better track of their insured deposits.

Pathfinder Bancorp in Oswego, N.Y., has exited the Small Business Lending Fund program.

The NCUA's plan to expand credit unions' business-lending powers generated more than 3,000 comment letters, mostly from bankers urging a "no" vote. But the agency's board is expected to stick by its original proposal.

While little is known about what regulators are weighing as they grade the 12 biggest firms' resolution plans, experts deeply familiar with the process are speculating that liquidity could be a determining factor in whether the plans are deemed credible or sent back to the drawing board.

There are millions of businesses deserving of loans that banks using traditional data resources might overlook due to their thin credit histories.

The burgeoning industry has been hoping the Supreme Court would overturn a problematic lower-court ruling, but the unexpected passing of a conservative stalwart makes that outcome less likely.

Home equity portfolios have shrunk at banks, but credit unions and nonbank lenders like loanDepot helped fuel the surge in home equity lines last year.

There is concern that a decline in condo pricing could create loan problems similar to those that cropped up before the financial crisis. Bankers in the area, however, believe foreign investors would take the biggest hit.

In what could be seen as a Nixon-to-China moment, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, a former Goldman Sachs executive and one of the architects of Treasury's bailout of the largest banks, said that breaking up the big banks and turning them into public utilities may be the only way to solve "too big to fail."

The Electronic Transactions Association released its updated Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring last week, spotlighting various merchant categories that face the biggest scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.