Law and regulation

On financial policy, the Republican presidential field has been gravitating to the right. Here is a look at where several of the contenders stand on key issues.

Wells Fargo & Co. on Oct. 28 became the latest big bank to abandon plans to start charging customers for using debit cards in the wake of a widespread backlash against new bank fees.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday it has suspended MF Global Inc., a subsidiary of MF Global Holdings Ltd., from conducting new business with it.

Photos of a Halloween office party at a foreclosure law firm, obtained by the Times' Joe Nocera, are nearly as appalling as the Abu Ghraib torture pics.

Wells Fargo & Co. became the largest big bank to abandon plans to start charging customers for using their debit cards, in the wake of a widespread backlash against new bank fees.

The Occupy Wall Street protestors have been invited to participate in the Greenwich Village Halloween parade, and have set up a website encouraging their members to dress the part.

Did Elizabeth Warren make a serious political misstep on the campaign trail last week? Warren backed off of statements she made that her work over the years had "created much of the intellectual foundation" for the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Since retiring from the Senate in January, Chris Dodd for months maintained a public silence about the landmark financial reform legislation that bears his name.

On Oct. 25 MetLife announced that the Federal Reserve had denied its request for approval of its capital distribution plan that included a dividend increase and resumption of stock repurchases. Likely it is a reflection of a prudent regulator. Rather than make an isolated determination on a single company, the Fed probably prefers to await results from its planned 2012 cross-institution analysis of the largest U.S. bank holding companies. MetLife's participation in that analysis underscores its systemic importance.

Obstacles and opportunities for banks in calls for consumers to move their money.

It's not just banks that are raising prices after changes to the rates that merchants pay to accept debit cards — on Thursday, Coinstar's Redbox DVD rental service said debit fees are driving its prices up by 20 cents a day. Other kiosk-based businesses may have to follow its example.

Advances across the 12-Bank cooperative fell again during the third quarter, according to the Office of Finance for the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Green Dot Corp. is licking its lips over banks' new debit card fees, but the prepaid card company still doesn't know quite how large its eventual meal will be.

Bankers are pushing the CFPB to provide a safe harbor for its rule to require lenders to verify a borrower's ability to repay a mortgage loan, but consumer groups are warning the agency not to go that far.

A disabled homeowner tries to navigate the mortgage servicing bureaucracy to obtain loan modification.

The Federal Reserve has announced written agreements with three banking companies.

Rep. Elijah Cummings is calling on the House Oversight Committee to use its powers to issue subpoenas to regulators to obtain copies of "engagement letters" agreed upon between mortgage servicing companies and firms hired to review their past foreclosure abuse.

Bankers warn that a proposal to require them to report interest earned by individual foreign depositors could cause bank runs in certain areas.

Recent predictions of the demise of branch banking can sound like the premature eulogies that have been floated since the advent of the Internet, but data suggests that a fundamental shift may be underway.

Visa Inc. next year plans to ramp up a series of incentives for merchants and acquirers, as the world's largest payments network braces for new regulations that are expected to cost it some debit transactions.