Law and regulation

Lawmakers are working behind the scenes to spur a potential vote on legislation that would ease capital standards for insurance companies as soon as next week.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

American Bancorporation was the first-ever bank holding company thrown into bankruptcy by the holders of its trust-preferred securities. Regulators may be able to avoid similar bankruptcies if more flexibility is shown in allowing holding companies to access capital to pay off creditors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission appears poised to soon finalize a plan to reform the $2.6 trillion money market mutual fund industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is learning just how hard it is to put effective curbs on small-dollar consumer credit.

A Republican-led congressional panel is accusing the Department of Justice of overstepping its legal authority and unfairly harming legitimate merchants as part of an investigation into fraudsters' use of the banking system.

Fifth Third Bancorp of Cincinnati expects to report an $81 million gain in the second quarter after selling shares of payment processing firm Vantiv.

Ally Bank CEO Barbara Yastine admits there’s a drawback to not having bricks and mortar — but it isn’t enough to make her regret not having branches under the Ally banner, which replaced the GMAC Bank brand five years ago this month. Yastine also discusses Know Your Customer standards and why the company is standing by its indirect auto finance model.

The car title loan industry is poised to grow substantially if it's not covered by CFPB regulations on payday lending. But the bureau has not laid the groundwork for title lending rules in the same way it has for payday lending.

The regulatory focus must shift from prohibiting undesirable risk behavior to changing the incentives that cause that behavior.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined RealtySouth, Alabama's largest real estate firm, $500,000 for allegedly steering consumers to an affiliated title services company.

Banks are still feeling negative effects from last year's sudden rise in medium- and long-term interest rates, but plenty of signs in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s latest industry update continue to point to a lending resurgence in the near future.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday it will begin rotating out resident examiners in the largest banks as part of a slew of internal changes it plans to make later this year based upon suggestions made by foreign supervisors.

WASHINGTON — Stanley Fischer was sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Declines in mortgage-related revenue and trading income helped pull first-quarter earnings down 7.6% from the industry's profit a year earlier, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Wednesday.

Cities including Baltimore and Los Angeles have brought lawsuits against banks alleging that subprime lending to minority borrowers wound up costing municipalities tens of millions of dollars. A recent Supreme Court ruling could help banks deflect such charges.

A battle over social media about how well the current housing finance system treats African-Americans and other minorities has spurred a critical discussion about racial disparities in the mortgage market.

A consolidated exam force could give state regulators access to federal resources without undermining the dual banking system.

Solera National in Colorado went through a messy proxy fight with its biggest shareholder. The contest prompted the company's OCC examiner to ask for an invitation to the meeting.

Merchants who use dynamic currency conversion should be required to give consumers full disclosure about the service's added fees.