Law and regulation

Swiss banks must lure affluent clients from emerging markets or face a "slow death" as the pursuit of tax dodgers by U.S. and European authorities results in outflows of assets, industry officals and investors said.

Economists are looking beyond the usual data points like consumer spending, disposable income, and household wealth to measure economic progress. Social ties and perceived upward mobility matter just as much, according to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

London equals weak regulation. Self-regulation equals self-interested regulation. Libor is set in London, by banks, through self-regulation. Why all the shock and outrage when banks set it to suit themselves?

Valerie Soranno Keating, the head of Barclays' global card operations, weighs in on mobile payments, the differences between the U.S. and U.K. markets and the importance of working with regulators.

Rep. Scott Garrett and Sen. David Vitter have introduced bills that would that "would repeal the government's authority to designate non-bank financial institutions as systemically important," writes American Banker’s Kevin Wack.

Illinois state regulators closed $88.9 million-asset Waukegan Savings Bank, the fortieth failure of the year nationwide and the sixth in the state.

A fund for penalties collected by the CFPB has its first $25 million, and lots of people are waiting to see how it will be spent.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is urging federal banking regulators to extend the comment deadline on Basel III capital reforms for another 90 days to give bankers more time to digest the rules and better assess their impact.

Simply stated, merchants have agreed the Visa/MasterCard interchange fee settlement resolves all past disputes and establishes a system that will govern payments in the future. Nothing remains for Congress, or anyone else, to address.

Bankers have called Elizabeth Warren a host of names, mostly in private, but Sarah Palin went a step further when speaking on Fox News.

Hungary’s antitrust regulator confirmed that it’s investigating alleged abuses by MasterCard Inc. over the company’s dominant position on the interbank market.

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi took another swing this week at Andrew Ross Sorkin, the CNBC anchor, for not pushing Sandy Weill on his change of heart regarding breaking up big banks.

Even Aaron Sorkin's new hit HBO show "The Newsroom" wants to weigh in on the merits of the Depression-era law, which separated commercial banking from investment banking.

Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said the sight of the 1,099-page proposal from the CFPB on simplified mortgage disclosures made him “physically ill,” according to Bloomberg.

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. bank, received formal inquiries from investigators pressing their probe into the possible rigging of a key international lending benchmark.

The Senate's failure to move forward on a bill to strengthen U.S. computer defenses leaves little chance that Congress can find a compromise this year, as lawmakers turn their attention to November's election.

American Express said it may be forced to refund customers as bank regulators weigh enforcement actions based on consumer-protection laws.

FHFA nixes principal reductions; Democrats seethe but bankers cheer DeMarco; end in sight for refi boom.

American Express Co., the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, said it may be forced to refund customers as bank regulators weigh enforcement actions based on consumer-protection laws.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.