Law and regulation

There's no consensus among bankers on whether the qualified mortgage rule, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue, should include a certain protection for lenders.

In a surprising reversal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed rules on Friday that will allow lenders to continue offering discount points and fees rather than a flat fee when originating home loans.

The Treasury Department plans next week to auction preferred shares in five banks that received a combined $84 million from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

We provide answers to frequently asked questions about what Treasury did, why it made its move — and what it means for the future of Fannie and Freddie.

William Haraf, the former California banking commissioner, has rejoined Promontory Financial Group.

Two wide-ranging regulatory proposals from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, which so far have received scant attention, could put the brakes on implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The ability of regulators to seize and unwind a failing large company — the very heart of the Dodd-Frank Act — is caught in a crossfire. Stuck in the middle? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Mutual thrifts looking to convert to publicly traded companies run the risk of increased pressure from activist investors. While the conversion process alone makes it easier for dissidents to accumulate shares, some observers say mutuals are also suffering from lax enforcement of rules designed to protect them.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed exempting trades between units of the same company from Dodd-Frank Act clearinghouse rules designed to limit risk in the $648 trillion swaps market.

If very different lines of business are walled off from one another, conflicts of interest and risk can be mitigated without losing any of the benefits of one-stop banking.

From Paul Ryan on Volcker to Julie Williams leaving the OCC, Washington managed to dominate banking news during a week when it's traditionally a ghost town.

The Treasury Department on Friday said it is restructuring the terms of its investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, four years after the government bailout of the beleaguered housing behemoths.

Eminent domain is a well-meaning bid to help individual homeowners, but it also would raise borrower credit costs and undermine efforts to inject private capital back into mortgage markets.

The Treasury Department today announced plans to accelerate the winddown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed new requirements for mortgage servicers “to provide clear monthly statements, earlier disclosures for interest rate adjustments and options to help borrowers avoid foreclosures and costly force-placed insurance,” writes American Banker’s Kate Berry.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will sell a $1.7 billion portfolio of nonperforming Federal Housing Administration loans in September as part of a bulk sale program aimed at helping borrowers avoid foreclosure, the loan sale advisory firm DebtX said Thursday.

Over objections from residents and lenders, the county passed a resolution Thursday authorizing its staff to seek bids from private companies looking to buy up and restructure underwater mortgages.

Fannie and Freddie's earnings from guaranteeing mortgages were a footnote when they were racking up huge losses. Now that they've stabilized, what fees their conservator sets will determine whether they shrink or can again be profitable.

Ocwen Financial (OCN) in Atlanta has hired a mortgage industry veteran to fill a new position for government and community relations.

Romney wants to make it easier for Congress to veto the proposals from regulators, and he vows to put a cap on new regulations. Both plans could have a big impact on financial regulation.