Law and regulation

Regulators have shut Doral Bank, ending a tumultuous decade for the Puerto Rican bank. The $5.9 billion-asset Doral was the fourth bank to fail this year and the biggest bank to be closed since the $11 billion-asset Westernbank in Puerto Rico was shuttered in April 2010.

Big banks are making critical risk management decisions with data that is old, incomplete or even inaccurate. This endangers the safety of the global financial system in more ways than one.

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.

Change is coming to the credit card industry following the government's recent antitrust victory against American Express, but the next few weeks could determine how deep the changes are — and who wins and loses.

The Federal Housing Administration's recent premium reduction is undercutting the private sector and expanding the government's role in the housing market, housing finance industry representatives told a House subcommittee on Thursday.

During Congressional testimony this week, Fed Chair Janet Yellen was sharply questioned about remarks made by Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez expressing mild concern about a provision of Dodd-Frank. Yellen didn't defend Alvarez — or note that his comments actually reflected the view of the board.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is extending its deadline for public comments on a proposal to require Global Systemically Important Banks to hold additional capital from March 2 to April 3.

A court-imposed deadline for American Express to negotiate a fix to its merchant rules with the Department of Justice is about three weeks away. Odds of a deal are said to be low, heightening uncertainty — and fueling debate — about how the showdown will affect the future of the credit card business.

The Bank of England will research whether issuing a digital currency such as Bitcoin would help it achieve its monetary policy, financial stability and regulatory goals.

The Obama administration's proposed bank tax would apply to all liabilities of large financial institutions — including their deposits. It's bad policy to tax the funding that banks use to make loans to consumers and businesses.

The Massachusetts senator recently argued that community banks have little need for regulatory relief. But a closer look at recent FDIC data shows that the health of small banks has taken a turn for the worse in the aftermath of Dodd-Frank.

CIT's John Thain and OneWest's James Otting, scheduled to speak today at a public hearing on their $3.4 billion M&A deal, will face complaints from community activists that they owe the public more after receiving substantial government help during the financial crisis.

BB&T has received subpoenas from the Justice Department tied to a probe of the Winston-Salem, N.C., company's FHA lending.

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday formally signed off on the creation of a national intelligence center to share information about cyber threats.

Republican lawmakers said Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen's meetings with executive-branch officials and liberal groups undercut the Fed's claim that a congressional audit would harm its independence.

A senior regulatory official on Wednesday continued the alarm bell over the brisk growth in auto lending, suggesting that some lending terms could be setting up banks for trouble.

New York could soon start holding bank executives personally responsible for their institutions' anti-money-laundering controls, the state's top financial regulator said Wednesday.

Banks would likely not see an immediate effect from the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet plan, but experts say it could prevent future discriminatory moves by carriers that want to compete more in offering financial services.

By prosecuting executives responsible for banks' misdeeds, the DOJ can curtail illegal activity and restore public trust in big banks — and in the law itself.

Congress should end Puerto Rico's exclusion from federal bankruptcy protection — but it's unfair to leave the territory's existing creditors in the lurch.