Law and legal issues

The GOP appears to have barely enough votes to roll back the contentious CFPB rule, and floor debate was expected to begin Tuesday with a final vote possible at any time. But victory was not assured, and the fallout could be significant for all sides.

Credit unions rely on a brand of fairness and trustworthiness, which would be severely weakened if more credit unions started using forced arbitration.

Why are credit unions lending their name to this fight when the vast majority of them do not use forced arbitration and have not been caught up in Wall Street’s excesses?

Treasury contests agency’s claims that ban on mandatory arbitration benefits consumers; former head of FX trading used client information to profit the bank.

With days ticking down for lawmakers to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule, some are now questioning the statistics used to challenge the bureau’s data.

British regulators are touting the success of their so-called regulatory sandbox. Their American counterparts have been unable to agree on a comprehensive scheme to foster innovation.

The Treasury Department released an 18-page report saying the rule would “impose extraordinary costs” including legal fees mostly for lawyers that bring class-action lawsuits.

A judge who imposed a $45 million penalty on Bank of America Corp. over a foreclosure on a California couple still isn't ready to forget the case he described as a "Kafkaesque nightmare."

Regulators usually avoid the public fights that define other realms of the polarized Washington landscape, but the recent tiff over the arbitration rule is an exception.

In a surprise move, the Supreme Court will decide whether Amex may bar merchants from steering customers to less expensive card networks. The card issuer will have to prove the consumer gain from its practices outweighs the merchant pain.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency used "flawed statistics" and misstated the effects of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule on community banks, Director Richard Cordray said Friday.

Bank of America set aside $100 million in its reserves for representation and warranty claims ahead of a pending settlement to resolve legacy mortgage issues.

In an op-ed, acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika argued that allowing consumers to sue financial institutions in class actions would raise credit costs and harm small banks.

The payday lending industry is planning to use the same playbook employed by the financial services industry in its fight against the CFPB's arbitration rule.

Wilmington Trust and some of its executives had been accused of intentionally understating past-due loans in 2009 and 2010.

The trade groups assert credit unions will face long-term costs related to canceling and reissuing debit and cards, as well as dealing with reputaitonal risks and other negative factors

The lawsuit against Navient Corp. demonstrates that despite the recent appointment of more industry-friendly regulators in Washington, financial services companies still face significant legal threats from state capitals.

Wells Fargo executives and directors accused of steering the bank into the worst scandal of its modern history were ordered to defend a lawsuit accusing them of profiting from the creation of millions of fake customer accounts.

Wells Fargo's home state of California passed a law aimed at curtailing the bank's use of closed-door arbitration to shroud complaints from aggrieved customers affected by its scandals.

The bank plans to contact all customers who paid fees for rate lock extensions during a three-and-a-half-year period and to refund any who believe they should not have been charged.