Law and regulation

Sen. Richard Shelby on Wednesday called for the Senate to pass a bill that would exempt more small banks from securities registration requirements.

A bipartisan group of Senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to create a covered bond market in the U.S. similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J.

Policymakers who stood by and watched the mortgage bubble inflate, and then explode, ought to pay attention to what's happening in the student loan market. The parallels may not be precise, but they are pretty darn scary.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the Internal Revenue Service made a mistake related to $253 million in disputed tax refunds that are at the center of a legal fight between the bank regulator and the bankruptcy estate of Colonial BancGroup Inc.

Sen. Carl Levin, one of the legislative architects of the Volcker Rule, took sharp issue Wednesday with how regulators are proposing to implement the measure.

It's a sign of the dismal state of the housing market that a combined $14 billion bailout in the third quarter for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac no longer merits front-page headlines.

It may take some time for the full effect of a new interchange-rate cap to affect consumer and merchant behavior, but PIN-debit network executives anticipate a positive outcome for their operations.

Nelson, Hirsch & Associates, a Fairburn, Ga.-based collection agency, reached a $4.3 million settlement with state regulators on several charges of engaging in unfair business practices - including threatening consumers with arrest if they did not pay.

The operator of a Web site billed as a “Facebook and Myspace for Kids” agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated the FTC's Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule by collecting personal information from 5,600 children without obtaining prior parental consent.

There's bad news for those who withdrew funds on Bank Transfer Day to punish the targets of their ire. Most banks don't really need their money — at least not right now.

Indonesia’s central bank plans to place stricter limits on credit card issuance to reduce rising consumer card debt in the country.

Federal Reserve Board officials have pledged not to force big banks to meet Basel III standards early, but have simultaneously warned institutions that they cannot pay dividends until they do so.

The flurry of regulations emanating from the Dodd-Frank Act, Basel III and Solvency II has induced an outpouring of technology spending from companies in the financial service sector, a new report finds.

American Banker editors discuss the White House's latest attempt to force the Senate to confirm Richard Cordray as CFPB director.

Fannie Mae's third-quarter loss widened to $5.09 billion as the mortgage company reported higher derivatives losses even though it set less money aside for bad loans.

Judge in FDIC lawsuit against former Wamu executives grants parties time to craft out-of-court agreement.

It's anyone guess who will prevail in the perennial fight over whether to allow larger government-backed mortgages.

Executives from Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and McDonald's are raising concerns that the new debit-fee regulations they fought for are unlikely to boost their bottom lines.

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, and HSBC may face top capital surcharges of 2.5 percentage points, according to a provisional list prepared by global regulators and obtained by Bloomberg News.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday it plans to give banks a heads up when they face possible enforcement actions.