Law and regulation

With the Senate expected to introduce legislation soon, the two rival industries are looking to have their priorities addressed.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will propose mortgage servicing rules this year that would restrict force-placed insurance and impose new disclosure requirements for adjustable-rate mortgages.

The Obama administration took further steps in their effort to put more money in the pockets of struggling borrowers by reducing certain fees paid on their mortgages for those who opt to refinance their homes.

The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill on Monday designed to curb consumer abuse by unregulated debt collectors. Senate Bill 1430, known as the Bartmann Ethical Debt Collection Act, passed the Senate 40 to 2 and now moves to the House.

On Feb. 29 one of the members of the Federal Open Markets Committee, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, called for the breakup of the top five U.S. Banks.

The gap between the U.S. and other countries on financial reform appears to be widening, with one leading analyst describing the gulf over tackling "too big to fail" as a "Grand Canyon."

At least 17 states are considering bills to create some form of state-owned bank. Backers say such a bank would partner with community banks and strengthening lending. Opponents believe forming the bank would be costly and redundant with what banks already offer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau added yet another product line to its consumer complaint system Monday, signaling its priority on using new tools to collect consumer feedback.

Hundreds of municipalities are passing ordinances that could cost banks and others billions of dollars to register and maintain troubled homes that may never reach foreclosure.

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association on Monday unveiled a new task force to develop strategies to ensure an efficient payments market.

Every now and then some doomsday cultist predicts the end of the world, but it doesn't occur. No big news.

The GOP presidential candidate is calling on banks to grant more loan modifications, and blaming the federal government for preventing them from happening.

A two-year-old consent order between the banking unit of Macatawa Bank Corp. and regulators has been terminated after the Holland, Mich., company raised additional capital and reversed a string of money-losing quarters.

United Western Bancorp Inc. in Denver has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a move that would allow the company more time to pursue its lawsuit against federal regulators for seizing its thrift in January 2011.

The reviews, mandated by regulators, could turn up errors made by the mortgage servicers' auditors. What if the firm doing a foreclosure review previously audited the same client?

At a hearing last week, Rep. Ron Paul asked Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke whether he did his own grocery shopping — and then brought a prop with him to suggest why silver should be part of our monetary system.

WASHINGTON — The failure of Global Commerce Bank in Doraville, Ga., late Friday was estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. nearly $18 million.

Ballard Spahr has picked up former Bank of America counsel Stanley Mabbitt for its consumer financial services and mortgage banking groups.

Despite his harsh rhetoric directed at the financial industry, President Obama still raked in millions last week at four separate fundraising events for his supporters on Wall Street.

In last week's New Yorker, humorist Calvin Trillin turned his satirical gaze on Newt Gingrich and the GOP presidential candidate's claim that Freddie Mac hired him as a historian, and not as a lobbyist or influence peddler.