Law and regulation

Mel Watt, the former North Carolina lawmaker, has earned praise for his cautious approach to guiding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But critics say he is making it even more difficult to craft a system without them.

Not only do the FDIC's limitations on brokered deposits curtail bank earnings, they deny banks the ability to use brokered deposits to meet community lending needs.

The CFPB's proposed reforms for payday and other high-cost loans are both welcome and long overdue. But there are two ways the agency can further improve future requirements.

Fedcoin could have a lot of benefits, such as helping unbanked buy goods and pay bills online. But about those "know-your-customer" risks....

Large mortgage servicers continued to shed delinquencies as overall loan performance improved in the fourth quarter, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Friday.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, unveiled legislation Friday that would require the banking agencies to review Dodd-Frank Act rules as part of a mandated process to assess the relevance of financial rules.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on Wall Street's dwindling number of high-powered women and the merits and drawbacks of the CFPB's consumer complaint database.

Law firms, compliance specialists, lobbyists and even startups are all trying to get a piece of the burgeoning billion-dollar industry aimed at navigating, modifying or complying with the Volcker Rule.

The recent history of bankruptcy law suggests there's a way to provide relief to borrowers overwhelmed by student loans while minimizing concerns about moral hazard.

A long-awaited bill to enhance cybersecurity information sharing has taken a major step forward.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's plans for revamping payday lending set off a fierce debate Thursday over whether the agency had gone too far or not far enough, proving that this is likely to be one the trickiest rulemakings the agency will ever attempt.

The Securities and Exchange Commission just gave unregistered banks a way to quickly raise capital at a fortuitous time — and marketplace lending platforms a way to reclaim their peer-to-peer roots.

President Obama lauded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Thursday for cracking down on high interest rate, short-term loans while defending the agency against attempts to defang it.

The $969 million-asset company said in a press release Thursday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had lifted a September 2010 consent order against First National Community Bank.

Paul Saltzman, the head of The Clearing House Association who helped to significantly raise the trade group's profile in recent years, is stepping down to pursue other opportunities, the group said Thursday.

PayPal will pay a $7.7 million fine for processing payments from customers that have ties to sanctioned parties on a U.S. Government list.

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee approved nearly a dozen regulatory reform bills for community banks and credit unions on Thursday, though Democrats signaled they remain concerned about efforts to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act and consumer protection measures.

After releasing successive studies on the payday industry over the past two years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is finally set to unveil Thursday sweeping proposals that could fundamentally change the business of short-term loans and other products

Senate Democrats have now joined the fight over the Financial Stability Oversight Council's designation process, calling for "systemically important" firms to be able to shed the label.

A top Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday that the compliance burdens placed on small and medium sized banks outweigh the risks they pose to the financial system.