Law and regulation

The senator who authored new interchange rules says that by imposing a $5 monthly fee on debit-card customers, Bank of America will be overcharging its customers.

The Department of Financial Services officially launched Monday and will focus on modernizing regulations and consumer protections.

There are 7, 500 banks in this country. Of those, 6,800 have asset sizes of a billion dollars or less. This diversity enables our banking system to support the world's largest and most dynamic economy, and it is what sets us apart from other countries whose banking industries are highly concentrated. Prosperous, American-based global enterprises — which do business with America's largest banks — beget mid-size suppliers that are served by regional banks. Small businesses in this supply chain are in turn nurtured by community banks, which work to make Main Streets across America vibrant.

Europe’s lingering debt crisis likely will cause some European banks to be wary of adhering to a pending deadline to accept euros as a common currency for electronic cross-border payments as part of the Single Euro Payments Area for eurozone countries, new research indicates.

State Bank Financial has bought 10 failed banks since 2009, and CEO Joe Evans discusses his outlook for more deals. He also discusses challenges with loan demand, and the long-term outlook for his bank in its core markets of Atlanta and Macon, Ga.

The Financial Stability Board proposed several policies Monday for lowering the risk giant firms pose to the system, including principles for resolution regimes, ahead of next month's Group of 20 summit in France.

The Treasury secretary and the Fed chair figure are likely to face tough questioning from lawmakers, among several other events in D.C.

Hong Kong's securities regulator Monday criticized and fined a Citigroup Inc. unit HK$6 million (US$770,394) for missing a "Ponzi scheme operating under its nose," and then later failing to report it to the Securities and Futures Commission in a timely fashion.

Citigroup, which last week touted its promise not to charge customers for using their debit cards, is telling some checking customers that it will start charging them $15 per month unless they maintain a balance of at least $6,000.

A U.S. district court has halted an operation that allegedly subjected consumers to abusive collection practices and deceived the small-business clients for whom it collects.

Kevin MacMillan has moved from the government-relations shop at Bank of America Corp. to that of U.S. Bancorp.

We already know of one presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is a steadfast critic of the Federal Reserve System. But did you know that another used to be a central banker himself?

WASHINGTON — First International Bank in Plano, Texas, became the year's 74th failed institution late Friday.

Consumers could save upwards of $63 billion a year if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac participate in a workable refinancing program for underwater borrowers, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Efforts to negotiate a settlement between state attorneys general and the top five mortgage servicers collapsed Friday after California pulled out the negotiations.

B. Riley & Co. analyst Rich Eckert thinks the government "should get out of the way" of the housing market, and discussing the potential effects of mortgage refinancing programs.

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris pulled out Friday of state and U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the government's investigation of alleged foreclosure abuses, calling the proposed settlement "inadequate for California homeowners."

A Virginia mortgage lender has agreed to pay $140,000 in compensation and revise its pricing policies to settle a lawsuit alleging that it discriminated against minority borrowers, the Justice Department said Friday.

The HUD inspector general wants the Federal Housing Administration to ban corporate officers from the FHA program if they have left a company that has not met its obligations to indemnify the government for delinquent loans.

Last week, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced plans to oversee how each country implements the new capital standards. But such a step may signal problems before the final rules are even adopted.