Law and regulation

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday welcomed one of the two new governors who were confirmed by the Senate earlier this month.

A Los Angeles law firm offers to pay brokers for convincing homeowners to pay $5,000 "referral" fees and sue banks. Critics raise legal and regulatory questions.

WASHINGTON — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a daylong public roundtable on the Volcker Rule on Thursday, May 31, the agency announced.

After Republican Sen. Bob Corker sought four changes to a Democratic mortgage refinancing bill, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez signaled his willingness to make a deal.

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released the last details of how two mortgage servicers — Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Finance Corp. — plan to fix problems in their home loan servicing and foreclosure processes.

As the potential end of unlimited deposit insurance for noninterest bearing accounts nears, industry observer weigh in on what could to happen to those deposits. Some see the Dec. 31 end of the program as a 'litmus test' for Too Big To Fail and an opportunity for smaller banks.

Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, defended the current structure of the central bank system, arguing that bankers should keep their seats on the boards of the 12 regional Fed banks.

A small Florida bank has refused to sign an enforcement order that would require it to beef up its capital reserves and reduce its risk, and now its state regulator is asking the courts to step in.

The General Court in Luxembourg Thursday upheld a 2007 European Commission ban on MasterCard Europe's cross-border multilateral interchange fees levied on retailers' debit and credit card transactions. Its decision could have consequences for the U.S.

The CFPB issued a proposal Thursday laying out the steps it will take to designate certain nonbanks for supervision if they pose a risk to consumers.

Certain loans were well underwritten and structured, and are underperforming now solely because of job losses. Drastic approaches like modifications and refis are unnecessary to help these ordinarily creditworthy homeowners.

With profits rising to a "post-crisis high," the FDIC says loan balances fell in the first quarter. But with banks selling off loans and balances affected by seasonal factors, the direction of lending growth is unclear.

Traditionally Americans have opposed the establishment of single governmental body with jurisdiction over all aspects of the financial system. Instead we have favored a decentralized system with different regulatory agencies for different types of financial activities and institutions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s threshold for what constitutes larger participant status in the debt collection industry, based on gross annual receipts, is considered too low by ACA International and DBA International.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Erie, Pa. refused to dismiss a complaint filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office against Michael J. Covatto, the former president of Unicredit America Inc., a now-defunct debt collection agency.

With Dodd-Frank and a sluggish economy as background, M&A experts met in New York earlier this week and shared insights into the future of bank deal-making.

Plans to unify mortgage securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been top of mind at several events this month, as the mortgage industry works to jumpstart the securities market in the wake of the financial crisis.

Everyone in Washington is talking about JPMorgan Chase's botched hedge. Everyone, that is, but the federal regulators in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency who actually know what's going on.

If JPMorgan Chase's trading blowup raised worries about booby traps at other financial giants, it might be comforting to know that its securities portfolio is more complex — and perhaps trickier to hedge — than those of rival megabanks.

Dodd-Frank establishes U.S. financial stability as a critical hurdle for regulators to evaluate before approving future mergers and acquisitions.