Law and regulation

The real losers would be the biggest banks, the holders of second liens, not investors in first mortgages. Those investors might come out ahead, and homeowners and municipalities certainly would.

The new message focuses on a targeted approach to repealing certain provisions — rather than the whole law — and trying to convince everyday Americans they too will suffer the consequences of new rules for the financial industry.

Dodd-Frank rules on swaps can move forward now that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted on the definition of such trades.

Architects of the emerging mobile-payments industry may not have bargained on potentially significant regulations some legal experts are envisioning for it.

Federal bank regulators Tuesday recommended that financial institutions take special precaution when using third-party cloud computing services.

The House voted unanimously late Monday to repeal the nearly 20-year-old requirement that automated teller machines have physical placards notifying users of fees.

Sen. Carl Levin's investigations subcommittee plans to use British bank as example of money-laundering risks that face big global banks.

WASHINGTON – The House easily approved a bill July 9 that would eliminate the requirement for the on-machine second fee disclosure at ATMs, the source of a growing number of legal claims against deployers of the machines.

Senate Banking Committee chairman raises concerns about growing scandal and says lawmakers may question top U.S. officials on the matter later this month.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) said that it will use available cash to redeem $862.5 million in outstanding trust-preferred securities next month.

"Isn't it true that there has never been a major crisis that resulted from excessive exposures to what was considered risky, and that these have always resulted from excessive exposures to what was perceived as not risky?"

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has made two significant decisions for examinations: to hire a large portion of examiners from outside of the other federal financial regulatory agencies and to bring lawyers along at the beginning.

Legal Helpers Debt Resolution LLC, a Chicago-based law firm, has settled a lawsuit filed in early 2011 by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The suit alleged that Legal Helpers unlawfully charged consumers upfront fees to provide debt settlement services.

In a Q&A on the eve of the CFPB's first anniversary, Director Richard Cordray explains why consumer complaints should be publicly released, and why the pending qualified mortgage plan needs more time.

Impending rules on how banks must handle certain transactions is one of the main factors prompting JPMorgan to combine units. Parts of the company handling securities, derivatives and back-end support started functioning as one group on Friday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took two major steps toward reshaping the nation's residential mortgage market Monday, proposing revised mortgage disclosure requirements as well as stricter limits on high-cost loans.

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the former chief executive officer of American International Group Inc., said it is "outrageous" that lawmakers demanded JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon testify about trading losses.

Loans made through the Small Business Lending Fund continued their climb in the first quarter, rising by $433 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, the Treasury Department said.

Instead of excessive scrutiny of what Jamie Dimon says about the company's $2 billion-plus trading loss, time might be better spent in analyzing JPMorgan Chase's mortgage revenue, net interest margins and sources of long-term profits — and what it all says about the future of banking.

The Treasury Department will auction off its stakes in a dozen more banks as it works to aggressively wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program.