Economy

The agency released a plan Tuesday that would provide incentives for owners of manufactured housing communities to reform their practices if they want to tap financing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's unexpected move to require the largest banks to develop a "recovery plan" has raised questions about why the agency is moving now and how its mandate differs from regulatory requirements for institutions to develop "living wills."

Fannie Mae is offering yet another carrot to lenders that have lobbied extensively for relief from loan repurchases.

The United Kingdom has already seen the emergence of mobile-first institutions that have won regulatory approval for a banking charter. It is only a matter of time before they invade the U.S. market.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency unveiled a new proposal Tuesday that would detail how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should serve three underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural markets.

The recent ineffectiveness of Federal Reserve monetary policy and macroprudential rules begs the question whether the Fed needs to revise recent bank regulations, its own mission or both.

It can often seem that some of the biggest names in payments were established a long time ago in a galaxy far away, and today are constantly defending their empires from scrappy startups launched by digital natives.

After Wall Street has spent years trying to convincing regulators how they could collapse without disrupting the financial system, the largest U.S. banks will soon have to take the additional step of showing how they can keep from failing in the first place.

California regulators on Monday identified 14 companies that the state is targeting as part of its recently announced inquiry into the marketplace lending industry.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company plans to offer subprime borrowers the ability to get an auto loan online or through a smartphone.

Under Jill Castilla, the once-sleepy Citizens has been transformed into a thoroughly modern institution that has become a model for other small banks trying to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive financial services marketplace. For that reason and more, she is one of American Banker's three community bankers of the year.

The first state inquiry into marketplace lending is seeking information from a broad mix of companies, including consumer lenders, small-business lenders, and firms that are not primarily in the lending business.

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be able to evaluate and use new credit scoring models under a bill introduced in the House that seeks to create more competition in the credit scoring industry.

Community bank executives are wary about the year ahead. Cybersecurity threats, the real possibility of even tighter margins after the Federal Reserve acts, and compliance woes are among their concerns.

California officials have opened a broad inquiry into the marketplace lending business, seeking data from industry participants that will be used to assess the effectiveness of the state's current regulatory regime.

A modern version of the Depression-era law would not only make banks safer, but it would also reduce compliance costs and erase the need for certain capital mandates.

The Dec. 2 mass shooting has shone a light on the sector's vulnerability to borrowers who, exploiting the absence of face-to-face contact on the Internet, lie on their loan applications.