Law and regulation

The process for assigning Legal Entity Identifiers is causing conflict on the global regulatory scene. At issue: Who gets to assign them? Some folks are just glad the CFTC is rolling ahead with a plan, but members of the official implementation group have concerns about how it might hinder broad adoption.

A report from the CFPB's ombudsman found that problems endemic to mortgage servicing are prevalent in student loan servicing as well.

Bankers question the fairness of some compliance penalties charged by the Small Business Lending Fund, which added 3% to its returns through June 30.

Without one, community banks will face increased risk of litigation they cannot afford. This could push many of them out of the mortgage market.

The Dodd-Frank Act puts lots of new requirements on hedge funds. Are the new regulations cramping fund managers' style? A new survey says no, and that the funding industry is "adjusting well."

The gap between consumer and secondary market mortgage rates has blown out to a 12-year high, as this interactive graphic shows. Lenders have trouble explaining what will replace mortgage earnings once production fizzles, however.

Committees serving an independent organization seeking to help the U.S. payments industry prepare for its conversion to EMV smartcard and contactless technology have begun examining key aspects of the transition.

Former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair wants to ban the revolving door and, moreover, believes bank examiners should be required to make a lifelong commitment to the profession. Not everyone agrees with this prescription.

While Comptroller Tom Curry made it clear that regulators will not back down from a push for higher capital levels, he suggested the agencies are considering other ways to reduce the burden of the Basel III proposal for community banks.

Thousands of individuals who paid 20 percent fees to collection agency Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson could be affected by a ruling last week to certify a class-action suit against the firm.

The complexity of Basel III is irrelevant to 90% of U.S. banks and should not be imposed on them. If rejecting the rules altogether is not considered politically feasible, a sensible alternative would be to simply exempt all community banks from its requirements.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has attempted to reassure lenders that their attorney-client privilege will be protected in any information turned over to the agency. But lender and their lawyers are not convinced.

The U.S. migration to the EMV secure chip-card standard has been so slow that some have compared it to the country's adoption of the metric system. But after years of delays, the mobile-wallet craze changed the rules.

A dry-as-dirt technical dispute over unique codes used to identify market participants has roiled a global effort to standardize financial data.

After being the first bank penalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Capital One will be facing a challenge to make sure the integration its recent acquisitions, HSCB's credit card portfolio and ING Direct, doesn't trip the CFPB's concerns.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a prompt corrective action against Sunrise Bank in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

More than 700 community banks failed a stress test performed by the New York data company Trepp, based on the proposed Basel III guidelines. Even if they wanted to do something about this problem, many would have a hard time raising capital in the private markets now.

No, it's not that ABA, but another one — the American Booksellers Association — has joined a growing list of retail groups seeking to derail the settlement with the card networks.

Jennifer Shasky Calvery took the reins at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network last month, after 15 years at the Justice Department prosecuting money laundering and organized crime.

Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo calls for capping the size of banks, lawsuit proliferate, earnings roll in.