Law and regulation

As Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats mounted their defense of Dodd-Frank on Wednesday, they sought to counter Republican charges that President Obama doesn't understand the private sector by pointing to the steps he has taken to help small business.

Mitt Romney says that reforming Fannie and Freddie will be a priority if he wins the White House in November, but he declined to offer any further details.

A group led by City National CEO Russell Goldsmith is looking to push an agenda for banks with $7 billion to $30 billion in assets.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. next week will unveil the latest national estimates of who is unbanked in this country.

The American Bankers Association's board is expected to approve a plan Thursday to get into the SuperPAC game.

Debit card issuers used to promote signature transactions over PIN. But now, in a post-Durbin world, the interchange revenues from both are similar, so “issuers are now trying to guide shoppers to use personal identification numbers” because of the lower costs, explains American Banker’s Victoria Finkle.

Financial institutions that do the same things should have the same oversight. Unfortunately, we're a long way from regulatory parity, even after Dodd-Frank.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency promoted Ellen M. Warwick to oversee its law department division, the agency said Wednesday.

For community banks, the Dodd-Frank reform law presents a lot more questions than answers. For Washington State's Cashmere Bank, it was time to turn to outside help.

While neither Obama nor Romney favors a megabank breakup, delegates at both the GOP and Democratic conventions indicated broad bipartisan support.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has terminated a consent order with Cornerstone Community Bank in Chattanooga, Tenn., after the bank increased its capital levels.

Street protests, fortress-like security, and the carefully chosen words of politicians underscore the strained relationship between the Democratic party and the banking industry.

Following the regulator's designation of larger consumer reporting companies for supervision, the CFPB said examiners will assess the accuracy of credit reports and how companies disclose information to consumers about credit scores.

Designating certain companies as systemically important accomplishes nothing more than putting them into a closer relationship with the government, making the designation itself a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If Congress fails to extend this 2007 law, millions of already-struggling families would face a substantial tax bill shortly after working out a deal with their mortgage lender – undermining short sales and other foreclosure prevention efforts.

The all-inclusive APR that figures into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's prosed mortgage disclosure forms has elicited a mixed reaction.

The Democratic Party and some of the nation's largest banks greeted each other uneasily Tuesday at the start of a week of partisan festivities here in Charlotte.

Bank of Commerce of Redding, Calif., is selling its majority stake in a mortgage lending company, a move some industry observers say makes sense given a challenging regulatory environment.

Among those calling for tighter money market fund regulations, one analyst says the Financial Stability Oversight Council's action (or lack thereof) on the matter will be a test of Dodd-Frank's effectiveness.

As banks have added checking-account fees to counter reductions in debit card revenue, consumers have responded, too, by streamlining their wallets and closing dormant or less-used accounts, new research shows.