Law and regulation

The new CEO has vowed to clean up the sales practices that tarnished the bank's reputation and cost John Stumpf his job. But skeptics from Wall Street to Capitol Hill say Sloan, too, was "culpable" in the phony account-opening scandal and that only an outsider can fix what ails the nation's third-largest bank.

A federal appeals court ruling against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has raised questions about whether banks and other firms cited by the agency can protest previous enforcement actions. But doing so may create new risks for firms.

In states with strict rules on small-dollar loans, lenders could see an opening in the language of the CFPB rule to actually hike rates, observers say.

The change at the top of the No. 3 U.S. bank by assets after a snowballing phony-accounts scandal marks the rare case of a major U.S. bank CEO resigning amid accusations of company misconduct. His successor, Tim Sloan, faces a hard road to recovery.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., is demanding answers from the Federal Reserve Board on whether one of its board member's political ties to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton compromises the central bank's independence.

The head of the international Basel Committee on Banking Supervision underscored the importance of international consistency in banking standards in comments Wednesday before the European Parliament.

A top Wells Fargo executive and a former employee painted very different pictures of the culture and oversight at the San Francisco bank during a hearing by a California Assembly committee on Tuesday that probed the opening of 2 million phony accounts.

WASHINGTON — Eighteen Republican State Attorneys Generals sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week pushing back against the agency's proposal to rein in high-cost small-dollar loans.

The Wells Fargo scandal has given cross-selling a bad name, but experts say that, done right, it is a crucial revenue driver in this era of razor-thin net interest margins. Their advice: Only sell products that customers need and compensate employees for retaining customers, not simply opening accounts.

The ramifications for a U.S. Court of Appeals decision against the CFPB’s constitutionality go far beyond just the agency’s independence, and may have consequences for other federal agencies with similar structures. The ruling may also hamper the CFPB’s powers, including its ability to retroactively apply new rules.