Law and regulation

WASHINGTON – The House is expected to vote on a bill this week that would change the way banks are designated as systemically important and subjected to tougher regulatory requirements.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg said he would not offer his resignation to President-elect Donald Trump.

Signs point to international regulatory reform having passed its peak, with European regulators delaying policies and agitating against further Basel III rules.

Bill Walton was at the top of Washington's finance establishment when he ran Allied Capital Corp. and sat on the Riggs Bank board alongside the city's titans. Then the trouble began.

The FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile showed positive signs across the board, including increases in net interest and noninterest income, better loan growth and a drop in noncurrent loans. Overall, 60.8% of banks were profitable — allowing the industry to reach its lowest proportion of unprofitable banks since the third quarter of 1997.

The Internal Revenue Service's petition for information on Coinbase customers is an overreach that should concern Americans regardless of whether they use bitcoin.

John Allison, a contender for President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, is a staunch opponent of the Federal Reserve Board, the Basel international accords, the government’s support of the housing finance industry and the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.

Several banks have cut ties with payday lenders in recent weeks, and there is evidence that regulators could be pressuring them to do so. The spate of terminations is prompting speculation that regulators are renewing their campaign against high-cost lenders before Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned financial companies on Monday to properly manage employee incentives that can pose significant risks to consumers, part of the ongoing fallout from Wells Fargo's phony account openings.

While the IRS has targeted banks with broad "John Doe" summonses, it does not typically ask financial institutions to turn over information on all of their account holders, as the agency wants Coinbase, a bitcoin exchange, to do.

After months of public deliberation, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry is set to disclose this week his decision on whether or not to create a special charter for fintech companies.

The Los Angeles City Council passed a motion last week to restrict large banks vying for city contracts from using predatory sales goals in response to the furor over Wells Fargo's phony accounts scandal.

With the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and an increasingly isolationist mood pervading European banking regulators, the international Basel III accords that underpinned much of the global post-crisis regulatory framework face an uncertain future.

The president-elect could take aim at the Federal Reserve's ties to Wall Street, bailout authority and other reforms if he really means to take steps to help working people.

Bankers are anxiously waiting to see who President-elect Donald Trump will pick as the next Treasury secretary. Several prominent names have been floated for the job, though with every passing day, a new possible choice seems to pop up. Following is a look at the current crop of candidates and their chances.

The election results will only intensify factors making competition with bank lenders more difficult, including the effect of interest rates as well as the regulatory environment.

Payday lenders are seeking a court injunction to stop what they say is a concerted effort by federal banking regulators to cut them off from the mainstream financial system.

James Cope, a former Pinnacle Financial Partners director who pleaded guilty to insider trading in October, was supposed to pay a $55,000 fine as part of a plea deal. But the judge hearing the case contends he should pay more.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's decision to raise conforming loan limits in 2016 for the first time in a decade is being met with enthusiasm from the mortgage industry, as it should prove to be a positive for future origination volume.

The Pennsylvania company has redoubled its outreach to low- and moderate-income consumers by partnering with Operation Hope on a down payment assistance program and naming a veteran banker to the newly created post of director of fair and responsible banking. But despite these efforts, history says Fulton is unlikely to escape punishment if the Justice Department finds that it violated fair-lending laws.