Law and regulation

The Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase were far apart last week in how much revenue the company would be making after the kind of economic shock envisioned in the Dodd-Frank stress test. The gap has JPM observers cautiously awaiting the results of this week's CCAR test.

New York's Amalgamated Bank is hoping to do more business with political action committee and left-leaning customers as its retail business shrinks.

When regulators use asset size as a yardstick, they impose unnecessary rules on larger financial institutions that employ traditional banking models.

Banks have spent a lot of money in order to comply with stress-test requirements. But they will only realize the value on their investments if they integrate stress-test tools and results into their daily decision-making process.

Two activist groups are urging the Fed and OCC to investigate whether OneWest used donations and other sweeteners to buy community support for its sale to CIT.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the downside of public banking and the vulnerabilities unaddressed by global regulators' bail-in plan for megabanks.

Observers fear state regulator Benjamin Lawsky's proposal to model anti-laundering reviews after Sarbanes-Oxley requirements could thin ranks of compliance specialists and slow monitoring.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, under fire from critics in the aftermath of the credit crisis for its weight in the U.S. central bank system, got a vote of support from the head of its largest counterpart.

Much of the Fed's decidedly more hawkish view on bank regulation stems from Gov. Daniel Tarullo, and some reform advocates fear that it could become less intense when he departs.

Four years after agreeing to an initial settlement, Bank of America has won court approval for its $8.5 billion settlement with investors over Countrywide's mortgage practices. Here's an update on all the other big mortgage litigation outstanding.

Community and regional banks should be subjected to simpler rules than very large banks, the chairman and CEO of the Buffalo, N.Y., company said. In fact, size is the wrong determinant for risk-based regulation, he said.

All 31 firms that took this year's Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test had enough capital to withstand the Fed's hypothetical severe economic scenario, but several of the largest banks were teetering on the edge of the leverage and risk-based capital requirements.

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.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans reintroduced several hot-button bills this week, helping to set the stage for some of the political fights to come later in the year.

Michael Stegman, a top housing policy adviser, urged regulators on Thursday to bring more private capital into the market, even in the absence of legislative momentum.

FCB Financial Holdings in Weston, Fla., has terminated its loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Banks process billions of dollars in international remittances, and the business is growing. But complex competing forces — namely anti-laundering rules and pressure from humanitarian groups — make the decision to stay in the business a difficult one.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency won't keep renewing initiatives like the Home Affordable Refinance Program in perpetuity, even if it is extended again before it expires in December, Director Mel Watt said Wednesday.

Loan demand continues to increase across the country, even though some economic sectors are still struggling, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Republicans are working to craft a Dodd-Frank regulatory relief bill this spring, but pushback on cost-benefit analysis mandates could derail the process.