Law and regulation

The industry wants to avoid rate hikes, service cutbacks and new competition from the public sector.

Two years after the federal government largely took over the student loan market, the remaining banks in the industry are preparing for another shakeup.

Ally Financial Inc., the government-owned auto lender, is making a $134 million dividend payment to the Treasury Department.

A federal court has imposed a $3.89 million judgment against Samuel Paul Bain and three of his companies - U.S. Homeowners Relief Inc., Waypoint Law Group Inc. and American Lending Review Inc. - for their role in an allegedly fraudulent mortgage modification and foreclosure relief scheme.

The SEC says Anthony Nocella, Franklin Bank Corp.'s former CEO, and J. Russell McCann, its former CFO, fraudulently concealed the deterioration of the bank's loan portfolio and inflated its earnings before the company declared bankruptcy in 2008.

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Editor's Note, July 25, 2012: This and other BankThink opinion columns written by Joel Sucher bearing this note, published between October 2011 and June 2012, mentioned the law firm of Stephen J. Baum, Litton Loan Servicing, or both. The columns should have disclosed that Baum's firm, working on behalf of Litton, had attempted to foreclose on the writer's property in 2009. American Banker's editors were unaware of this history at the time the columns were published.

A most significant global institution, the G20, made up of the sovereign heads of the 23 largest global economies, late last year formally accepted the responsibility of creating a global identification system for financial market participants and the financial products they trade in.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has lifted a memorandum of understanding with the banking unit of First PacTrust Bancorp (BANC) of Irvine, Calif.

After accusations by Rep. Ron Paul, the Fed IG investigated — and discounted — claims that the Fed was involved in the 1972 Watergate scandal or Iraqi arms purchases in the 1980s.

Ailing Orrstown Bank in Shippensburg, Pa., has named a former chief lobbyist at the American Bankers Association to its board of directors.

WASHINGTON--For all the angst about heightened regulation in the banking sector, financial policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to a different industry: mobile handsets.

Supporters of the bipartisan measure say that it will help entrepreneurs, community banks, and other small businesses, but opponents fear that it opens the door to fraud.

Looking to bet on — errrr, hedge your exposure to — the 2012 presidential election?

The Treasury Department took one for the team last week when they gave up Dan Tangherlini, the assistant secretary for management and chief financial officer, who was tapped to pick up the pieces as acting head of the General Services Administration.

Brian Sack, head of the markets group for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is leaving his post, effective Sept. 14.

Any number of things about Ben Bernanke's job could potentially keep him up at night.

For all the angst about heightened regulation in the banking sector, financial policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to a different industry: cell phones.

InComm, following a similar move by American Express, plans to stop selling gift cards in retail stores in New Jersey.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.