Law and regulation

A research paper calling for a pull back nowhere is it disclosed that the paper was at least partially underwritten by the private mortgage insurance giant Genworth Financial Inc., which stands to benefit from a pull back in the market by FHA.

A Government Accountability Office report Wednesday said proprietary trading has produced a relatively small share of revenues at the six largest banks, but the study quickly came under fire from two senators who called the GAO's findings thin.

Re: "Conspiracy Theories on Low Failure Rate Don't Hold Water"

The slowdown in bank failures has conspiracy theorists looking for a cause, but the truth is likely a lot less exciting: The slowdown may simply reflect a stabilized industry.

Merchants will have a difficult time reaping all the benefits they stand to gain from a pending antitrust settlement between the two largest U.S. credit card networks and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker Wednesday alleged that Republican members of a special financial-crisis investigation panel were driven more by politics than by probing the causes of the crisis.

WASHINGTON — A House Financial Services subcommittee late Tuesday approved six bills that would rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but that fall short of comprehensive changes to the housing finance system.

WASHINGTON — Without a permanent director in place, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gave fair warning Tuesday it plans to start monitoring the industry's largest banks for consumer abuses in just over a week.

In recent weeks we have been treated to several regulatory observations and preliminary decisions about the appropriate level of bank capital. A few comments have come from U. S. bank regulators. A major recent pronouncement came from the Bank for International Settlements, more commonly known by the name of the Swiss city where the bank is located — Basel.

The largest bank holding company in the U.S. is shooting for only 7% of Basel III Tier 1 common equity. Come again?

While other regulators busily check off implementation goals set by last year's financial reform law, the new body charged with limiting threats to the financial system is getting lost in the shuffle.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board Tuesday published a list of which banks must comply with the central bank's cap on debit-card swipe fees, as well as a list of those exempt from the cap (see list).

The Federal Reserve Board Tuesday published a list of which banks must comply with the central bank's cap on debit-card swipe fees, as well as a list of those exempt from the cap.

Guardian Analytics Inc. plans to launch an outsourced fraud-prevention service on July 13 that will help financial institutions meet new Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council guidelines released June 29.

A daylong meeting Tuesday of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s advisory committee on its new resolution powers — with an impressive list of participants led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker — produced its share of one-liners.

Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul do not agree on much when it comes to banking, but when it comes to pot they're in lockstep. The two House Financial Services Committee members from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum introduced a bill last week that would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and give the states power over the issue, according to the Associated Press.

Rep. Ron Paul lobbed a new accusation at the Federal Reserve last week by suggesting it was "hiding" some of the country's gold reserves.

A House Financial Services subcommittee hearing Wednesday will explore whether recent changes in loan-origination rules will hurt consumers' chances of getting a mortgage.

A federal judge Monday deferred a final decision on whether to approve a class-action settlement that would resolve a lawsuit over Encore Capital Group Inc.'s collection tactics.

Even as he favored a broader exemption from risk retention than currently proposed, Rep. Barney Frank said Monday regulators should not undermine skin-in-the-game rules by turning the exception into the rule.