Economy

A small Austin, Texas, bank, formerly called Libertad, had to abandon its initial plan to target unbanked Hispanics. But it has made the most of its second chance by finding a niche in lending to real estate investors. Now it's looking to diversify.

By ensuring that all big-bank investors receive equal treatment in bankruptcy and looking for other ways to prevent short-term liquidity problems from becoming major financial crises, Congress can avoid the need to test the FDIC’s ability to resolve large financial institutions.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., agreed to expand mortgage lending in minority neighborhoods to settle a federal probe into its fair-housing loan practices.

California officials briefly raised hopes among digital currency proponents Friday by releasing a statement that they would drop plans to regulate digital currency businesses and instead defer to the legislature.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the merits and drawbacks of Sen. Richard Shelby's regulatory reform legislation, whether bigger banks are inherently riskier and banks' evolving interest in blockchain technology.

Fannie and Freddie's profits depend on having their obligations backed by the U.S. Treasury. Therefore they should have to pay a sensible price for this backstop — just like big banks.

Orchard Platform in New York has added two nonbank lenders to its marketplace lending service that matches institutional investors with loan originators.

It took three or so days to settle stock trades. What if that could happen instantly and be recorded on a blockchain for everyone to see?

The Senate Banking Committee approved a broad regulatory reform bill Thursday on party lines, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle vowing to continue negotiations this summer.

Nonbank servicers selling and buying Fannie and Freddie MSRs must meet new capital and liquidity requirement to transfer servicing.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Stability Oversight Council is encouraging mortgage agencies to continue clarifying when lenders must repurchase defective loans.

The proposed legislation for regulatory relief seeks to roll back critical mortgage protections put in place to prevent another housing crisis.

Critics of the regulatory relief bill proposed by Sen. Richard Shelby argue that will endanger the financial system and benefit big banks. But in fact, the changes offer sensible, nonpartisan fixes to some of the biggest problems with the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Rural Housing Service should merge with the Federal Housing Administration to save money and improve service, the head of the Government Accountability Office testified Tuesday.

Lost in the debate so far over Shelby's regulatory relief bill are the significant changes it makes to the housing finance system. It essentially takes consensus elements from multiple past stabs at reform, leaving out the most controversial parts and making future reform far easier.

Critics concede Bitcoin's innovations may change finance but predict the system itself isn't long for this world. Nasdaq is challenging that idea by not only testing Bitcoin's much-vaunted blockchain technology, but doing so on the Bitcoin network.

It's a good idea to raise the asset threshold at which financial institutions are automatically designated as systemically important financial institutions. But Sen. Richard Shelby's proposed legislation for regulatory relief does require one crucial change.

The regulatory relief package coming before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday would force the Federal Housing Finance Agency to withdraw the contentious proposal within 30 days.

No bank has fully disclosed what it spends on the Federal Reserve's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, in part because the figure is hard to isolate. It's a key piece of information missing in the debate over banks' regulatory burden.

As major banks have pulled back from originating Federal Housing Administration single-family loans, nonbank mortgage lenders have become bigger players in the Ginnie Mae program.