Law and regulation

The Federal Reserve Board has entered into written agreements requiring two holding companies to serve as sources of strength for their community banks.

Despite richer returns available further out on the yield curve, large banks have generally not shifted toward long-dated securities, according to regulatory data.

The U.S. government likes small businesses — in a quaint, 20th-century way. It will bend over backward to support lending to these economic engines, but it won't adequately safeguard their online bank accounts against a more modern plague: hacking.

Expatriates of Somalia threaten to close their accounts at U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo unless the banks wire their money to suffering family members back home. But the big banks, and others in the industry, say federal rules make it too hard to offer the service.

The two Democratic senators said Thursday that FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco should act now to make it easier for homeowners to refinance.

The best way to stave off regulatory excess in the wake of a financial crisis is to stop causing crises in the first place. More restraint on financial institutions' part could help.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants banks to collect all customer complaints in one unified, companywide database, a lawyer at Santander's Sovereign Bank said on Thursday morning.

Chris Peterson recently suggested cities should require payday lenders to describe themselves as "predatory" on storefront signs. Now he's a senior counsel to the CFPB.

To ensure covenants are satisfied, loan syndicates obtain private information that would give an equity market maker an advantage. Reinstating Glass-Steagall may be the only way to prevent reuse of such information.

The agency is working on rules to make home lending more transparent – and on a lot of other things too.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank has taken steps to ensure its examiners are not artificially constraining lending.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau detailed rules Wednesday that would impose new limits on origination points and fees, and prohibit certain kinds of originator compensation.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association has asked a federal regulator to craft a 'qualified mortgage' rule specifically for private reverse mortgages.

In a largely party-line vote, the House adopted an amendment that would bar the Justice Department from excluding mortgage bond investors from any future settlement talks.

As Paul Volcker and Tom Hoenig address government's policies for handling interconnected firms, Ohio Sen. Brown introduces bill to strengthen caps on an institution's liabilities.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it approved the expansion of the U.S. operations of three of China's largest banks, including the first acquisition of a U.S. bank by a Chinese bank.

At a House hearing Wednesday, small banks testified that the cumulative burden of regulations is taking a huge toll.

In their path-breaking 2009 book "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly" economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff conclude it never is.

Bankers and prepaid card executives defended the industry’s much-criticized fees on Wednesday, saying that prices and practices have improved as the industry has matured.

The former Tarp special master calls for a "sea change" in how banks and other corporations determine pay.