Law and regulation

Ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan banks is the core responsibility of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That shouldn't change now that the president has the authority to fire the FHFA's director at will.

The European Union’s planned Green Asset Ratio, intended to reveal how much a bank lends to climate-friendly companies and projects, will offer a distorted picture of reality, according to a Bloomberg survey of some 20 major European banks.

The agreement will likely end a three-year-old dispute over allegations that the company misled borrowers by promising no hidden fees on its consumer loans.

Financial services companies are set to be exempt from a global plan to make multinational firms pay more tax to the countries where they operate, in a win for U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.

President Joe Biden plans to meet with regulators on Monday to discuss the health of the system they oversee and how his administration’s priorities, including on climate change and inclusion, can best be addressed.

In a reversal of a Trump-era decision, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it has the legal authority to test lenders for potential violations of a law protecting military borrowers.

Bank lobbyists are once again calling on Congress to reexamine credit unions’ tax-exempt status, this time citing the proliferation of bank acquisitions by credit unions. So far, their pleas have gone largely ignored.

According to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s “How America Banks” report, there is an estimated 7.1 million unbanked households in 2019. Given the record levels of unemployment, the pandemic has brought on the FDIC expects this number to rise. Join Joe Adler, American Banker’s Washington Bureau Chief and Leonard Chanin, Deputy to the Chairman of the FDIC as they discuss the FDIC’s stance on financial inclusion and how banks can get millions of unbanked Americans into the traditional banking system.

In "Antitrust," former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar offers little nuance in weighing the costs and benefits of concentrated economic power.

Banks need to innovate to compete with upstart fintechs, but fragmented and inflexible core systems are slowing digital transformation. Here’s how banks — with help from their regulators — can thrive amid the disruption.