Law and regulation

More than 70 banks are set to hit their seventh anniversary this year, crossing a threshold where they will have reduced regulatory scrutiny and relaxed capital ratios. While many are excited about the potential to growth, they are aiming to do so carefully.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the National Credit Union Administration to hold public hearings and receive comments on its annual operating budget.

Still reeling from underwriting guidelines that went into effect last year, some small lenders are worried that a new mortgage disclosure regime might be the thing that pushes them over the edge.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of several tax-preparation outlets that allegedly steered low-income clients into expensive loans against their anticipated refunds.

The Basel Committee needs to measure the efficacy of recently implemented rules, strengthen banks' operational risk requirements and make banks' risk models less variable. Luckily, secretary general William Coen has vowed to do just that.

Even small U.S. banks can end up doing business with institutions all across the world, but here are some jurisdictions were doing so is either outright forbidden or requires additional scrutiny.

General Electric's plan to sell most of its financing arm has been hailed as a sign that financial reform is successfully persuading "too big to fail" firms to break up. But the end of GE Capital just means that the conglomerates left standing are even more homogeneous and risk-prone.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board issued a proposal that would make a technical change to its rules governing the calculation of interest payments on excess cash reserves held at regional Fed banks in order to more seamlessly raise overall interest rates in the future.

As Basel III gets ready to turn five years old this summer, recently appointed Basel Committee secretary general William Coen is taking the necessary step of ensuring that new capital ratio, liquidity standard and leverage ratio rules work well together.

The Banking Committee is working to craft a bipartisan deal on regulatory relief, but if those efforts stall it's possible banking provisions could pop up again as part of key spending and fiscal measures later this year.

The cost of complying with New York State's proposed BitLicense regulations would wipe out many smaller digital currency businesses. But there is a middle ground: placing those businesses under the supervision of a self-regulating incubator that would help them develop robust yet affordable compliance programs.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on regulatory complexity, Jamie Dimon's defense of the megabank model, and how vulnerable banks really are to tech startups.

Two House Financial Services subcommittee chairmen are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to delay enforcement of a new disclosure regime due to take effect this summer until Jan. 1.

General Electric's decision to sell most of its financial assets marks the most prominent victory in regulators' quest to incentivize breakups of large conglomerates. But it may turn out to be a one-off event.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

While having direct access to the U.K.’s real-time transaction network might not lower costs for non-banks, it will allow providers to make their own risk decisions.

The dialogue comes as the central bank is mulling a potentially momentous application by an upstart credit union that hopes to serve the marijuana industry.

President Obama's nomination of a Allan Landon, a former community banker, to fill one of two vacant seats on the Federal Reserve Board is in danger of withering on the vine as a rapidly closing legislative window, potential parliamentary issues and other concerns are conspiring to significantly slow the process.

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon tried to defend his bank's size and scope by suggesting that community banks are just as vulnerable in a crisis. But he succeeded only in proving that Wall Street firms will make the same mistakes all over again unless the government takes steps to disincentivize their risky behavior.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board finalized a rule Thursday that could spur small bank deals by expanding the number of bank holding companies that qualify for an exception allowing them to carry more debt.