Law and regulation

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Mary Mack is beginning damage control as she overhauls Wells' sales culture; Dorothy Savarese talks diversity of bank sizes as she becomes chairman of the ABA; and Elizabeth Warren implores the president to demote Mary Jo White. Also, industry manbassadors talk work-life balance and the importance of flexibility for women as Visa's CEO resigns to devote more time to family. And a couple of small activist firms are taking on gender bias at the world's largest companies.

A federal appeals court's decision that declared the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau an arm of the White House relies on a novel interpretation of the constitution's separation of powers clause that could have broader effects on how other regulators like the OCC and FHFA interact.

In its biennial survey, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that in 2015, 7% of U.S. households were unbanked, marking a 0.7% drop from 2013.

A slew of recent cases of misconduct in banking – from both the investment and retail sides of the business – have eroded the trustworthiness of the entire industry, William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said Thursday.

A win by Hillary Clinton would be something of a mixed bag for bankers. On the one hand, she's a moderate with detailed policies, many of which are bank-friendly. Yet she may also be pushed to the left as she navigates issues, particularly on regulatory appointments.

The California Department of Justice is investigating Wells Fargo for allegations of criminal identity theft.

WASHINGTON — Banks are generally seeing improving credit quality and loan demand across the consumer and industrial sectors, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Banks are reacting positively to a sweeping new cybersecurity proposal from regulators, noting that it only targets the largest institutions and keys off of existing practices.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau decried an appeals court ruling last week that found its single-director structure unconstitutional, saying the opinion was "wrongly decided" and had "no basis in the text of the Constitution or in Supreme Court case law."