Law and regulation

The number of vacant and abandoned properties that are in foreclosure decreased in the second quarter, according to a RealtyTrac report.

A bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members is urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make risk-sharing a higher priority for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon took aim at U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a critic of large banks, as he expressed broad concerns about leadership in Washington.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule Wednesday that allows it to monitor the biggest nonbank auto finance companies.

More than a dozen housing groups are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would grant lenders a formal grace period for implementing new disclosure forms later this summer, arguing that the industry needs greater certainty than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has so far provided.

The digital currency world is readying itself for more regulatory penalties over the failure to meet Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering requirements following federal agencies' action against Ripple Labs last month.

With the onset of the new integrated disclosures rule, mortgage lenders owe it to their companies to make sure that operations folks have the chance to get out to events and workshops that will keep them informed and updated on new industry requirements.

Fannie and Freddie should offer upfront risk-sharing options in order to give lenders an opportunity to lower their guarantee fees while encouraging more private capital and competition to flow into the secondary mortgage market.

The details of the final Des-Moines-Seattle Home Loan Bank deal made it clear why this merger worked when past attempts had not and gave clues as to whether other institutions could one day follow suit. Following are three items that jumped out.

After four years of interagency wrangling, regulators are close to re-proposing a plan that would set minimum standards for executive compensation for banks and credit unions, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Tuesday.

Six federal regulators on Tuesday issued a final joint policy statement laying out standards for assessing financial institutions' diversity policies.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's "qualified mortgage" rule has put a damper on the recovery of the housing market, according to an American Bankers Association survey.

Farmers Capital Bank in Frankfort, Ky., has completed the redemption of its Troubled Asset Relief program preferred shares for about $10.1 million.

The harsh capital treatment of Trups holdings under Basel III undoes the regulatory relief already extended to community banks that had invested in the securities.

In a letter to nine lenders, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said investigators uncovered identity-theft schemes hatched by tellers at some of the biggest institutions.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a proposal Monday laying out two options to deal with the growing potential threat from interest rate risk in the banking sector, with one entailing new minimum capital requirements and the other establishing strong supervisory benchmarks.

Several weighty issues remain on the agenda for policymakers over the next few months, including everything from living wills to regulatory relief to a long-lost compensation rule.

New York financial watchdog Benjamin Lawsky is stepping down, and his successor is likely to follow a similar strict yet innovative approach to Wall Street oversight. However, the next head of NYDFS would likely benefit from better industry relations.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the debate over how to expand access to mortgage credit and the dangers and opportunities presented by large-scale corporate data mining.

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