Law and regulation

As a regulatory deadline rapidly approaches, big banks are becoming increasingly anxious about how they should comply with a ban on proprietary trading (the so-called Volcker Rule).

Regulators alleged a "wash trading scheme of massive proportion" by Royal Bank of Canada, which was accused in a lawsuit Monday of unlawfully trading hundreds of millions of dollars in stock futures in order to get tax benefits.

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee hope to make it easier for homeowners with Fannie and Freddie mortgages to refinance.

Thomas Curry, who was approved by the Senate last week, will lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency starting next Monday.

First Savings Bank Northwest in Renton, Wash., has been released from a formal enforcement order with its regulators after substantially reducing its problem loans and demonstrating that it can earn money on a consistent basis.

A homeowner's struggle to get a loan modification demonstrates the insanity (and inanity) of dealing with lumbering corporate bureaucracies.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are calling for immediate action to pass long-stalled data-security legislation in the face of last week’s news of a massive data breach at cards processor Global Payments Inc. (see story).

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are calling for immediate action to pass long-stalled data-security legislation in the face of last week’s news of a massive data breach at cards processor Global Payments Inc. (see story).

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is lauding the state's House of Representatives for passing the Debtors' Rights Act of 2012, a bill aimed at protecting consumers from being taken to jail for unpaid debts. House legislators voted 107-0-1 to approve House Bill 5434.

Compliance departments are being stressed like never before by disclosures, audits and testing. Automated compliance platforms are one way to bring it all under control.

Should bank directors and officers have to give up their insurance coverage for civil money penalties?

A few weeks ago, President Obama released his fiscal 2013 budget proposal. The $3.8 trillion spending request-spelled out over 256 pages-is available for download at whitehouse.gov. Or just peruse our quick tour of the items most relevant to banks.

Will the acrimony over swipe fees keep banks and retailers from working together on mobile payments?

Regulators closed Fidelity Bank in Dearborn, Mich., at a cost of about $93 million to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

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Why did the Senate confirm Martin Gruenberg as a board member of the FDIC but not the agency's chairman? We seek to answer this and other questions, including how it will impact banks and the agency itself.

To borrow from Mr. Becker's disingenuous BankThink piece ("More Credit Union Business Lending Would Boost Economy"), it's time for our nation's leaders to get serious about credit unions.

Participants in a recent American Banker roundtable debate to what extent tougher supervision for banks above $50 billion of assets will deter deals among banks below the threshold.

Legislators are considering a proposed tax overhaul that would move $30 million of taxes from community banks to larger banks. With smaller bills, community banks say they can lend more.

Industry lawyer and former Comptroller of the Currency Jerry Hawke makes the case against further regulation of money market funds.