Law and regulation

A trade group for the country's biggest banks is lashing out at their most recent critics and defending their "social utility."

A Congressional investigation found HSBC engaged in money laundering and sanctions busting for ten years, in multibillion-dollar amounts. Perhaps not coincidentally, the bank has been disinvesting from the U.S. Let's invite them to complete their departure—fast.

"The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have decided not to define loan participation agreements as swaps." writes Allison Bisbey of Leveraged Finance News.

The Berkshire Bank, a New York lender with 11 branches, sued 21 banks including Bank of America, Barclays and Citigroup for damages over the alleged manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate.

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Regulators in Georgia closed the $217 million-asset Jasper Banking, which became the industry's 39th bank to fail this year.

The Treasury Department did not sell some of the preferred shares it owns two community banks as planned after it received insufficient bids for the securities.

The Federal Reserve Board entered into a written agreement with Cornerstone Bancorp that requires the St. Petersburg, Fla., company to serve as a source of strength for its bank.

The Clearing House made the case for big banks' "social utility," arguing that banking behemoths pay dividends in efficiency, flexibility, and innovation.

WASHINGTON — The heads of two key banking trade associations on Friday repeated their calls for Congress to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee program.

The directors of the newly created Offices of Women and Minority Inclusion recently submitted their first reports to Congress. These reports show a good start, but also illustrate how much remains to be done.

Sovereign Bank defeated an overdraft fee lawsuit in Florida federal court on Thursday, making it the only bank to successfully argue its overdraft practices were sanctioned by federal regulators.

A joint effort by U.S. and international standards-setters to write rules on loss provisioning hits a speed bump just as an SEC report shows the broader aim of a truly global accounting regime is still far-off.

The Federal Reserve Board on July 27 approved a final rule that amends the provisions in its debit-pricing rule that permit debit card issuers subject to the interchange fee standards under the Durbin amendment to Dodd-Fank to receive a fraud-prevention adjustment.

Preston M. "Pete" Geren 3rd, a former secretary of the Army and U.S. lawmaker, recently joined the board of Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas.

A rambling question from Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner bears an uncomfortable resemblance to an old "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were among the largest clients of firms whose products led to a $210 million settlement between Capital One and federal regulators.

Wal-Mart balks at card settlement; analyst praises bad customer service at Wells Fargo; Sandy Weill, empire-builder, calls for dismantling of empires.

Capital One will pay $12 million to thousands of military customers it overcharged for loans and improperly foreclosed upon, as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Beth Mooney believes regional banks have a competitive advantage against their largest competitors given the "onerous" compliance requirements for $1 trillion-asset banks under the Dodd-Frank Act.