Economy

The ambiguity over whether regulators favor risk sensitivity or simplicity in setting capital requirements does not help risk management efforts.

As online business lenders grow in number, size and prominence, a new trade group is being launched to represent their interests in Washington.

The subprime consumer lender currently rejects many of its personal loan applicants. It hopes to qualify more borrowers by offering cash to those who are willing to put their cars up as collateral.

A program recently started in New York helps entrepreneurs improve their business plans and cash flow before sending them to a bank. The nonprofit lender behind the program, meanwhile, hopes to boost small-business borrowers' credit scores and lower their rates.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams discusses the potential for new fintech products to make predatory lending easier, whether big banks need to be broken up, and the likelihood of another recession.

Restrictions on bank ownership act as a de facto poison pill, discouraging potential activist investors from challenging underperforming bank managers. Ease those restrictions and the market will do its job.

Five policy heavy-hitters issued a proposal this week to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation as a way to move beyond the conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises.

Two senior GOP lawmakers are warning regulators against preferential treatment for housing advocates and nonprofits in sales of nonperforming, government-guaranteed mortgages.

Online lender StreetShares' strategy is based on the premise that borrowers are more likely to repay when they have a genuine personal connection to the lender.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears poised finally to allow principal reductions, but it's been nearly a decade since the mortgage crisis and underwater borrowers are much fewer thanks to higher home values.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew cast doubt Tuesday on whether recent moves by large nonbank firms to sell assets were driven by a desire to shed their regulatory label of "systemically important."

Startupbootcamp's fintech accelerator in New York boasts an unusually large faculty of 225 mentors, trained to give candid feedback and prepare the class of 10 startups for the real world.

ChoiceOne Financial Services in Sparta, Mich., will begin work on remodeling its bank's headquarters in May.

The agency may finally be reaching resolution on whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow principal reductions, two years into Director Mel Watt's tenure as agency director and nearly a decade after the mortgage bubble burst.

The House passed a bill late Monday to extend foreclosure relief for military service members through the end of next year.

The Clearing House Association, a trade group including some of the largest U.S. banks, said in a comment letter Tuesday that the Fed’s proposed countercyclical capital buffer plan potentially violates administrative procedure laws.

Todd Sherman, who with his brother Tyler Sherman co-founded mortgage software developer Motivity Solutions, has died.

The sheer volume of regulations adds time and expense to closings without much benefit when consumers’ main interest is to get funds as quickly as possible.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the executive branch for its views on a legal case that has sparked worry within the financial industry. That opinion is expected to have a big impact on whether the justices decide to hear Madden v. Midland Funding.

A well-known Wall Street firm is urging Citigroup to split itself in two for the benefit of investors, adding to the chorus of calls for the biggest banks to be broken up. How much of a difference will it make?