Law and legal issues

Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan took heat from Senate Democrats, who questioned his fitness for the job, the bank's use of mandatory arbitration clauses and even whether its charter should be revoked.

The workers who have been brought back do not include any of the more than 5,000 employees who were fired for alleged misconduct, according to the company.

The groups argue that the CFPB did not properly conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the rule banning mandatory arbitration agreements and that the final product will harm, not help, consumers.

Readers comment on the ripple effects of the Equifax breach, who benefits from the CFPB's final arbitration rule, gender-related issues in financial services, and more.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika affirmed Thursday that the agency’s fintech charter, if implemented, could be granted to commercial firms like Walmart or Google.

Wells Fargo is extending a 6-year-old fight with a whistleblower, despite a government order to immediately reinstate the former employee.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule on arbitration clauses may be bad news for alleged corporate wrongdoers like Equifax and Wells Fargo, but surely for the victims of such wrongdoing — and for consumers, generally — it is good news indeed.

Readers chime in on debates about ILCs, the CFPB’s arbitration rule, the financial services ambitions of tech firms and more.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule on arbitration clauses may be bad news for alleged corporate wrongdoers like Equifax and Wells Fargo, but surely for the victims of such wrongdoing — and for consumers, generally — it is good news indeed.

Democrats have strived to paint recent scandals at Wells Fargo and Equifax as prime examples of why a regulatory rule banning mandatory arbitration agreements should be upheld, but Republicans are not wavering in their campaign to overturn it.

Summit Credit Union in Madison, Wis., has filed what's believed to be the first lawsuit by a financial institution in connection with the massive data breach.

The hearings before the Senate Banking Committee have high stakes for both companies, as lawmakers are expected to ask the CEOs whether they should be fired.

A recent failed-bank resolution in Europe may serve as a harbinger of how new authorities could cause problems in the U.S. and highlights the potential need for a modified bankruptcy process.

An internal CFPB memo says it was considering a $10 billion fine before settling on $100 million; state suit against credit bureau is likely to be the first of many.

The California company will pay nearly $3 million to address claims it failed to pay employees for overtime.

Without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's expanding consumers' legal options, they will continue to be vulnerable to the abusive practices that have proliferated throughout the financial industry in recent years.

Credit Suisse Group AG said it settled lawsuits brought by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. over the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis.

Bankers in Florida and Texas are dusting off their disaster-recovery playbooks, which focus on retrieving customers' valuables, ensuring employee safety and minimizing the bank's own legal exposure.

But the Wayzata, Minn., company is not out of legal hot water, as a judge let stand some charges that it violated a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that prohibits using deceptive practices to sell consumer products.

In order to compensate victims of the breach, Equifax is offering free credit monitoring services that include a mandatory arbitration clause, a measure Democrats were highlighting to lobby support for the CFPB's rule banning such clauses.