Law and regulation

Federal Reserve Banks around the country last week took a moment to point out progress made by women in the field of economics and earlier works by female economists to commentate the 101st anniversary of International Women's Day.

Like the nuclear meltdown that devastated Japan a year ago, America's financial crisis resulted in part from collusion between the regulators in the capital and the regulated in the executive suites. Unlike the Japanese, we didn't learn from our calamity.

Longtime community bank investor Eric Hovde has traded Washington D.C. for Wisconsin in the hopes of taking up residence in the nation's capitol.

For a second time in three weeks, regulators have shuttered a bank that others were unwilling to acquire.

The Federal Reserve Board is scheduled to release results this week of the toughest stress tests to date. They will determine what firms can pay a dividend and shape public perceptions of banks' health.

Many financial product innovations sound brilliant, but are prone to blow up after 5 or 15 years of increasing emulation and bloat, as discipline declines. Then, after the horses are long gone, Washington thinks about painting the barn. Some of that happened with inventive mortgages and their securitization, with collateral default swaps, with overinvestment in commercial real estate, and — some would allege — with money market funds.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has approved Capital One Financial Corp.'s acquisition of HSBC Bank USA's credit card portfolio.

Regulator aims to maintain competitive pay packages for certain managers, but new CEOs at Fannie and Freddie to make $500,000 each.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has ended a formal agreement with City National Bank of Florida.

ACA International announced Friday its support for The Fair Debt Collection Practices Clarification Act, a bill introduced last month that would exempt collectors from liability when leaving voice messages.

More than 200,000 financially strapped households will have a chance to sharply reduce their mortgage balances under a side deal negotiated by Bank of America that could allow the bank to avoid as much as $850 million in penalties.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to adopt a measure aimed at cracking down on offshore tax havens.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee faces the toughest race of his 19-year congressional career.

WASHINGTON — The Capital Purchase Program was more than $6 billion in the black as of the end of January, but there are continued concerns over some institutions still not repaying CPP funds, according to a report issued Thursday by the Government Accountability Office.

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released details on steps three more mortgage servicers are taking to correct deficiencies in their foreclosure practices.

With at least one success, defendants are attempting to use state "business-judgment" rules to their advantage.

The real fight over the bill, which has long been sought by the banking industry, is still to come in the Senate.

The $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement is "a symbol, a chance to get everyone to agree to solve this," the CEO tells investors.

WASHINGTON — A coalition of associations, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter Thursday urging regulators to hold a public hearing on their plans to designate non-bank financial institutions as systemically important.

The idea of banks peddling "exploding toasters" has taken root thanks to industry nemesis Elizabeth Warren.