Exams

The New York State Department of Financial Services has fined Mega International Commercial Bank in Taiwan $180 million in connection with allegations that it violated New York’s anti-money-laundering laws.

With supervisory pressures continuing to mount, a piecemeal approach to handling banks’ regulatory demands is costly and ineffective.

Distributed ledgers have the potential to simplify and strengthen bank regulatory oversight when applied in the appropriate context, such as during the Shared National Credit examination program.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau added its voice Tuesday to a chorus of other regulators in calling for sustainable foreclosure relief when the Home Affordable Modification Program expires at yearend.

Regulators' recent warnings on emerging risks with commercial real estate indicate banks have reverted to CRE practices that got them in hot water once before.

The fragmentation of the U.S. regulatory system and uncertainty around what agencies will regulate fintech firms could slow down innovation.

Big banks were seen as winners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but their support for the pact is in question as a result of their treatment in a data-related provision.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that it paid $24.5 million in restitution to consumers after uncovering illegal activities in auto finance and payment firms in the first four months of this year.

Ten banks have invested a total of $25 million in the fund, which buys up mortgage-backed securities tied to loans made for the development or rehabilitation of affordable single- and multifamily homes.

Evidence that regulators consider institution size when evaluating accounting compliance should encourage banks worried about the new loan-loss reserving standard.

Real regulatory relief for community banks and stricter oversight of the biggest financial firms are steps that can increase investor interest in new banks.

A report by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors found that consolidated companies with money transmitter licenses fell more than 10% from 518 in the first quarter of 2015, to 456 this year.

Requiring the bank regulators to disclose the numerical grades they give for capital, assets and other factors would subject them to the same market discipline they demand for banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has charged a Mississippi company with refusing to disclose check-cashing fees to consumers, deceptively pressuring borrowers into taking out multiple payday loans and keeping overpayments.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will propose changes in late July to its mortgage disclosure rule to provide "greater certainty and clarity" to the mortgage industry.

A new conundrum is emerging for cybersecurity-conscious banks: Well-protected information can also be an unwelcome obstacle for regulators.

Bankers blamed regulators' new methodologies for rating certain energy loans – and a new two-stage shared national credit review process – for an increase in downgrades and loan-loss provisions. Regulators reportedly are reacting to an increase in second liens tied to exploration and production companies.

WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators have been asking global banks to draw contingency plans for the possibility of Britain's leaving the European Union, according to a Reuters report.

WASHINGTON — Congress should consider streamlining the financial regulatory structure and give the Financial Stability Oversight Council broader authority to respond to systemic risks, according to a Government Accountability Office report published this week.

WASHINGTON – Four Democratic senators sent a letter on Thursday to federal financial regulators asking for clear guidance on how banks can serve the marijuana industry.