Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department issued a critical legal opinion Thursday asserting that President Obama is allowed to make recess appointments despite pro-forma Senate sessions in which no business is conducted, effectively validating the appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against suburban Chicago-based collection agency PN Financial, alleging the company has used abusive and threatening tactics against consumers.

Consumer litigation filed against collection agencies and creditors in 2011 set several records - including cases citing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA).

A Treasury Department report released this week showed that nearly 80% of participants in the Small Business Lending Fund have increased small business lending over average lending levels reported prior to the program's passage.

A group of 28 House Democrats wrote to President Obama urging him to address the nation's housing woes by installing a new leader at FHFA.

Top financial regulators — including the FDIC's Martin Gruenberg, the OCC's John Walsh and the Fed's Daniel Tarullo — will testify on Capitol Hill next week about their proposal to implement the Volcker Rule.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning to shutter 131 farm lending offices in 32 states as part of a broad mandate from the Obama administration to trim $150 million from its annual budget.

Businesses around the country appeared more willing to apply for loans in the last quarter of 2011, the Fed said.

With President Obama touting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a symbol of his support for the little guy, Republicans struggle for a response that resonates with voters.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released supplemental guidance Wednesday to its exam manual, which will help examiners looking at mortgage origination at both banks and nonbanks.

While most banks have stayed mum about Richard Corday's recess appointment, Citigroup weighed in with its analysis in a blog post Wednesday.

Alexi Giannoulias, a former Illinois Treasurer whose 2010 Senate campaign was clouded by the failure of his family's bank, has landed a new job at Bank of New York Mellon.

The former special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program blasts the Obama Administration for failing to support its own housing programs

The Federal Housing Finance Agency needs to develop specific rules to determine when it needs to take action against a troubled Federal Home Loan Bank, the agency's watchdog said.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is considering broadening protections for customer money in both the over-the-counter derivatives and futures markets after the failure of broker-dealer MF Global left customers short as much as $1.2 billion.

PARK CITY, UTAH –Consumer advocates still aren’t sure if new federal caps on debit card interchange will end up helping or hurting consumers.

The CFPB can and should impose safeguards against predatory payday lending institutions. And big banks should take heed and stop providing these lenders with lines of credit.

Two GOP senators took strong exception to recent suggestions by Fed officials that more should be done to fix the U.S. housing market.

For all the talk about legal challenges to the recess appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the American Financial Services Association, which represents nonbank consumer lenders, has no intention of stepping into the fray.

The Dodd-Frank Act in general, and in particular its favorite child, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, represent sharp political disputes, as now with bypassing the Senate by the "recess" appointment of its director.