Law and regulation

As expiration dates near for FDIC loss-sharing agreements inked in 2008, more failed bank buyers are looking to unload loans before the coverage runs out. As a result, they face growing pressure to book new loans to replace the ones they are trying to run off.

The Lansing, Mich., company has turned to court to try and recapitalize itself. The move would leave all existing stakeholders with a 53% equity stake in the company. Capitol, meanwhile, is still searching for an investor to take the other 47%.

The special inspector general for Tarp worked in the subbasement of the Treasury Department. Watchdogs given an inconvenient, dank, dark, dirty and desolate office maybe won't stay long.

Despite the lagging economy, which has left many students graduating from college with fewer, if any, job prospects, there is cause for optimism in the medium term, the Fed chairman told teachers at a Town Hall meeting last week.

The former chairman of the Securities Industry Association jumps into the Glass-Steagall debate. But instead of championing the revival of Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking, he'd like to revive the SIA’s proposed legislation from the 1990s.

JPMorgan Chase will contribute about $1.2 billion to settle a price-fixing case brought by retailers over credit-card swipe fees.

Visa, and MasterCard have until Oct. 19 to formally request approval of a more than $6 billion settlement to a lawsuit over interchange fees, according to a filing unsealed in Brooklyn, New York, federal court.

In a recent report the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provided details about its consumer complaint database. In its first year of operation 43% of the complaints the agency has received have been about mortgages and 34% were about credit cards.

New York's financial-services regulator has grounds to shut Standard Chartered in the state even if he accepts the firm's argument that it illegally laundered only a fraction of the $250 billion he claims.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a proposal Friday that would require 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.

Housing activists and other progressives pushed the president Thursday to oust Edward DeMarco and to dedicate more resources to investigating the run-up to the 2008 crisis.

Stories about buyout groups dissolving and heavy-handed regulation make private equity sound like the dog that never barked in banking. But such firms have notched hundreds of deals since the crisis, and the rollup machines they've created are poised to keep going.

Consumer advocates and financial services industry officials clashed Thursday over whether banks and insurers are getting paid fairly in the force-placed insurance market.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a written agreement with Coastal Financial that required the Everett, Wash., company to improve asset quality and risk management.

Google has changed the rules about how issuers get into its mobile wallet, and American Express is the first to vocally and vehemently oppose Google's new setup. The outcome of this dispute could decide who controls transaction data in mobile payments.

The agency used a cross-guaranty liability agreement to receive 85% of the proceeds from a Kansas Bank's sale to Arvest Bank in Arkansas. The deal is notable to companies with multiple banks, particularly those that are undercapitalized.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may propose allowing swaps between a financial company's affiliates to be exempt from rules designed to reduce risk in the market, three people briefed on the matter said.

The judge overseeing the Visa/MasterCard swipe fee dispute will not approve the settlement until the second half of 2013. In the interim, this deal must get through numerous hurdles.

Southwest Bancorp (OKSB) in Stillwater, Okla., has repurchased all of the $70 million in preferred securities it sold to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The agency is desperately trying to avoid a bailout this year by settling disputes with major banks for cash, selling severely delinquent loans and raising insurance premiums for new borrowers.