Law and regulation

While the penalty is a blow to Ripple Labs, it could have significant implications for the industry at large and its efforts to legitimize itself in the eyes of regulators and banks. Here's how:

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has virtually no chance of winning the White House, but he will likely force "too big to fail" to be part of the campaign trail.

Senator Bernie Sanders proposed legislation to break up the nation's biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, setting up a contrast with Hillary Clinton as both seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that leveraged lending, high-interest debt and elevated stock valuations are all signs of firms engaging in risky loans to boost yield in the zero interest rate environment.

WASHINGTON — Financial Crime Enforcement Network Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said Wednesday that Internal Revenue Service examiners are conducting bank-like exams of virtual currency firms for possible anti-money laundering violations.

Former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair has been named president of Washington College, a small liberal arts school in Chestertown, Md.

U.S. authorities have fined the San Francisco startup $700,000 over violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's Tuesday press release.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings swung to a significant loss as the servicing segment's income fell due to higher prepayments amidst the decline in interest rates and lower benefits.

The CFPB found that more than 26 million consumers are effectively "credit invisible" because they have no credit record and another 19 million are "unscored" because they have an insufficient or stale credit history. But it's unclear how the CFPB plans to tackle the issue.

Bolstered by higher originations, Freddie Mac reported Tuesday that net income was $524 million for the first quarter, up from $227 million a quarter earlier.

Vincent Delie, CEO of F.N.B., discusses the costs of and difficulty in complying with size-related regulations, his outlook for acquisitions and the Baltimore market.

Earnings at HSBC's North American operation fell 12% in the first quarter. Details about the unit's future restructuring are due next month, but executives offered reassurances Tuesday that they don't plan to divest it.

There will always be a need for small-dollar loans. But loans that trap people in debt and burden borrowers with triple-digit interest rates are simply abusive.

Wells Fargo & Co. was sued by Los Angeles for allegedly opening accounts and issuing credit cards without customers' authorization as part of what the city called a "fee-generating machine."

WASHINGTON — Banks expect oil and gas drilling loans to underperform in 2015, but say they are a relatively small proportion of their overall commercial and industrial loan portfolios, according to a survey of loan officers released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Two House Financial Services Committee members introduced a bipartisan bill late last week that is designed to give lenders breathing room when new disclosure rules go into effect on Aug. 1.

Regulators and banks worldwide agree that universal implementation of Legal Entity Identifiers, or LEIs, is essential to prevent contagion during the next financial crisis. So why is it taking so long to roll it out?

Created under the guise of a program to root out fraud and illegal activity, this initiative has been used by Obama administration bureaucrats to pressure banks to end relationships with businesses they consider objectionable or "high risk."

A chief financial officer's workday is booked solid dealing with regulatory issues, risk assessments and finding places to cut costs. If they could find an extra hour, bank CFOs say they would use that time to consider how to improve their banks' strategies, employees and communities.

If banking is under attack, then chief financial officers are the defenders of the realm. Equipped with the numbers, they are uniquely positioned to bring the credible answers their stakeholders seek and the changes their companies need.