Law and regulation

Tim Pawlenty is hardly the first prominent politician to turn into a bank lobbyist. Indeed, there's a long line of them.

WASHINGTON — Comptroller of the Currency Tom Curry defended the use of on-site examiners as part of the agency's supervision program in a speech to the Financial Services Roundtable on Thursday.

Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director, suggested that lenders should not be overly concerned about potential legal liability for making so-called "qualified mortgages."

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the incoming head of the Financial Services Roundtable and outgoing co-chair of the Romney campaign says the Dodd-Frank Act needs "refining." He also says banks should "stop doing stupid things."

CEO John Stumpf offered candid views on monetary policy, the housing crisis, capital rules and even consumer protection during a panel discussion late Wednesday.

Several merchant groups are asking members of Congress to hear their opposition to the swipe-fee settlement announced in July.

After being named head of the Financial Services Roundtable on Thursday, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty laid out his agenda for the trade group, saying banks need to do more to police themselves.

A group of Republican state attorneys general has chosen not to sign cooperation agreements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, part of a rising Republican revolt against the agency.

China blocks U.S. banks from operating there. We should reciprocate. There's nothing to gain from giving keys to our banking system to entities owned and controlled by an adversary state.

The Financial Services Roundtable announced Thursday morning that it has picked former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, 51, as its next chief executive.

What is good for the big banks is not necessarily good for the economy and the growth of jobs, writes the chairman of Signature Bank in New York.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked state attorneys general to sign a cooperation agreement to protect shared confidential information, but most Republican AGs are declining to sign.

In an attempt to compensate for higher foreclosure related losses, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is proposing that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge higher fees on new loans in five states.

Controlled by the government for the past four years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are already shadows of their former, formidable selves. But what the FHFA has planned will essentially make them mirror images of each other, separate companies on paper only.

In a race closely watched by the banking industry, multiple polls conducted since the Democratic National Convention now find Elizabeth Warren leading Sen. Scott Brown. "Warren is looking unbeatable," one analyst says.

A group of Republican state attorneys general has declined to sign cooperation agreements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, part of an escalating Republican revolt against the agency that began in Congress.

A federal charter will allow lenders to provide more credit alternatives with lower costs as well as flexible payback periods and loan amounts to underbanked consumers.

The SEC has a lot of rules to implement for Dodd-Frank, and as we know, much of that has been slow-going. The agency had been posting a timetable for action on its website, but "this summer, the agency quietly removed timing estimates from its list of pending Dodd-Frank mandates, largely because the estimates were rarely accurate, officials said," reports a Wall Street Journal blog.

Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide Financial unit is asking a judge to throw out claims for "billions of dollars" in damages by the Federal Housing Finance Agency for mortgage-backed securities bought by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

A government program that lets small-business owners refinance commercial mortgages is set to expire next week, but supporters are hopeful that Congress will revisit it after the November elections.