Law and regulation

The Cincinnati company was barred from raising the payout today after the most-recent series of stress tests.

Large buildups of options granted over the years to the bosses at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase could serve as an incentive to make riskier plays than at B of A and Citi.

At a House hearing Tuesday, Republican lawmakers sounded pleased with steps the agency is taking in response to concerns about how it conducts economic analyses of its proposed rules.

The GSE could have approved a short sale that would have let Louise Davidson stay in her home as a renter and eventually have the opportunity to buy it back. True to form, Fannie evicted her instead.

Some analysts believe the time is ripe for second-step conversions by mutual holding companies. Still, some bankers believe the floodgates will remain closed until regulators decide to let MHCs pay a special dividend before converting.

In first speech as comptroller, Curry touts the benefits of the national charter for community banks and thrifts as more consider flipping to state charters.

Federal banking regulators are demanding changes to a proposed $1.5 million settlement between Colonial Bank's former parent company and ex-leaders of the failed bank, including Bobby Lowder, the Auburn University booster who once served as chief executive.

Patience has been a common virtue for businesses, financial institutions or agencies seeking to convert consumers to electronic payments and do away from paper checks.

Big cost hits on debit and credit cards have already happened, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has not made any overly threatening moves yet, Davis says.

The state of Hawaii has sued seven major credit card issuers over the marketing of credit card insurance-like products, known as payment protection plans.

Grant Thornton has hired a former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. employee as a managing director in its national bank regulatory practice.

Too-big-to-fail stifles economic growth. Oligopolies and asset concentration strangle competition and suppress innovation, job creation and free markets in financial services, as they once did in oil, steel and telecommunications.

How misleading claims by both credit unions and banks are clouding the debate over business lending at the non-profits.

A broad coalition of housing advocates and banking industry trade groups called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Monday to broadly define "qualified mortgage" when it issues a final rule this year.

Industry watchers expecting foreclosure trends to follow a predictable path are destined for surprises, as the recent figures from RealtyTrac demonstrate. March marked a 4-year low in new foreclosures, with actions increasing in judicial states, but surprisingly declining in non-judicial ones. In the aftermath of the AG settlement with the major servicers, this result seems counterintuitive to say the least. However looks may be deceiving on closer examination.

A European mobile wallet venture led by telecommunications operators has run into a setback with regulators.

WASHINGTON — Banking regulators in some states have expanded the use of a mortgage licensing system to include non-banks, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors said Monday.

Industry observers are concerned that banks could get caught flat-footed as regulators ramp up oversight of Bank Secrecy Act and Anti Money Laundering policies.

Second-step conversions by mutual holding companies have been in a freeze since last summer, but at least one analyst believes that the market is set to thaw.

The American Bar Association argued a CFPB rule to protect privileged bank information is flawed because it presumes the agency has a right to the information in the first place.