Law and regulation

SunTrust Banks Inc., which has already lost hundreds of millions after repurchasing bad mortgages, could lose up to $150 million as it deals with the cost of mortgage-servicing problems.

After imposing a raft of new regulations, mortgage regulators are seeking servicing industry input to prevent the latest housing rescue bids from suffering the same dismal fate as their predecessors.

Past reports on industry health showed limited, if any, loan growth, but that changed in the most recent Quarterly Banking Profile.

As Occupy the SEC detailed in our recent comment letter, the agencies’ proposed implementation of the Volcker Rule strays from Congressional intent in several big ways.

Credit Union National Association is calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to use its new authority over the Electronic Funds Transfer Act to amend requirements that force two separate disclosures on fees to a single, on-screen disclosure.

The plans provide new details on how banks will address foreclosure errors under consent orders signed last year.

The Federal Housing Administration is following through with its pledge to increase upfront and annual insurance premiums on its forward single-family business.

Now that the agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has revealed the reasoning behind its stubborn opposition to mortgage principal reduction, the problems with its argument are clear.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development alleged Monday that Bank of America imposed "unnecessary and burdensome" requirements on borrowers who relied on disability income to qualify for home loans.

Fannie Mae is offering to sell nearly 2,500 foreclosed properties to investors as part of a new federal initiative to aid the housing market by selling off distressed properties in bulk, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Monday.

In an unusual step, foreign governments stretching across three continents have written to U.S. regulators calling for significant changes in how rule is implemented.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to shift course before finalizing changes to the good faith estimate form, a project the bureau has been working on diligently since last summer.

Regulators have bombarded mortgage servicers with a flurry of new regulations and government programs in the past year, heaping on tasks and costly reviews. Now they're asking to hear the mortgage companies' complaints.

"Confidence was so shattered that banks were holding vast unlent sums, and businesses did not want to invest in new capital even though interest rates were at abnormally low levels…The general loss in confidence was the main cause of the low demand, and thus the low level of employment."

Extending the law that provides unlimited deposit insurance on non-interest bearing demand deposits would send a signal that just maybe the industry is not fully healthy and still needs support.

In recent months at least 650 thrift institutions have experienced a change in supervisory agency from the Office of Thrift Supervision to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as mandated by Dodd-Frank. Also, thrift holding companies now come under the supervision of the Federal Reserve Board.

A move to revise the Credit Finance Business Act and allow South Korea’s financial regulator to set the commission rates card firms collect from merchants has met with strong opposition.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Monday that it has charged Bank of America Corp. with discriminating against disabled home buyers by asking them for medical information and proof of federal disability income.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is warning residents of the state to be on alert for criminals posing as payday loan operators and debt collectors.

The Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh announced that it intends to convert from a federally chartered thrift supervised by the OCC to a state-chartered thrift to be supervised by New York State Department of Financial Services.