Law and regulation

A House subcommittee approved a bill Wednesday that would redirect money from an affordable housing fund that receives money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into another program run by HUD.

Individual rules put in place after the financial crisis have made some large banks safer, but the number and complexity of new regulations may well have made the overall system riskier, according to a provocative new paper by a top financial analytics firm.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is joining Pacific Investment Management Co. as a senior adviser, his second consulting agreement with a top money manager in as many weeks.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby offered a few hints Wednesday about what bankers might be able to expect from pending regulatory relief legislation due next month.

Regulators can avoid extensive, after-the-fact investigations of banks' illegal actions by standardizing the form and content of transaction data so they can spot compliance problems in real time.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gave a strong warning to the banking industry on Tuesday when it fined Regions Financial $7.5 million for allegedly charging illegal overdraft fees.

At Citigroup and Wells Fargo, shareholder proposals to disclose more about lobbying garnered double-digit percentages of the vote. PNC basked in environmentalists' admiration — after agreeing to leave business on the table.

The Senate Banking Committee kicked off the first of several hearings on the insurance industry this week, as companies brace for heightened oversight under the Dodd-Frank Act and other efforts.

Regions Financial will pay a $7.5 million fine after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it charged consumers illegal overdraft fees on checking and payday-loan-like accounts.

Bank of America is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the lender broke rules designed to safeguard customer accounts, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The CFPB is purging the dark corners of debt collection and buying. It's a revolution that's been a long time coming.

A step-by-step look at GE Capital's breakup plan and its likely aftermath, including recent comments by bankers who may be looking to buy various parts.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is urging banks to reevaluate how they use credit bureaus like ChexSystems, after his investigation found that inaccurate data reported by banks is preventing some consumers from opening checking and savings accounts. Three banks already have agreed to modify their use of ChexSystems in screening potential customers.

For more than a decade, U.S. regulators have been advising bankers to know more about their customers than who they are. In the next five years that may become the global norm as technology allows more granular transaction monitoring.

Large foreign firms are facing key decisions about the size of their footprint here as they approach a Federal Reserve Board requirement to form a separate holding company to house their U.S. subsidiaries.

Breaking up the biggest banks could wind up increasing the chances of a taxpayer bailout, while reinstating Glass-Steagall would only serve to make banks less stable.

Martin Tobias is upset that JPMorgan Chase closed his accounts this week after a news report about his business connections to the marijuana industry, but he says he partly understands the pressure banks are under.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on derisking, biometric technology and Paul Volcker’s proposal to reform the regulatory system.

HSBC Holdings executives said little about the future of their U.S. bank and other underperforming businesses at a sometimes contentious annual shareholder meeting Friday.

itBit, a Bitcoin exchange, looks to be gunning to go mainstream with an application for a New York trust charter and a lineup of prominent Washington backers including former FDIC head Sheila Bair.