Law and regulation

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

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will soon begin looking beyond the rollout of new mortgage regulations this month to other markets. American Banker's Rachel Witkowski, who covers the CFPB, offers insights into where the agency is headed and when.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken a different -- and more comical -- approach in getting the word out about its new mortgage rules, including an appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Regulators' reviews of big banks' internal resolution plans will become more rigorous in 2014 as a debate grows over what parts of the plans can be seen by the public.

A group of Republican senators introduced a bill Thursday evening to address concerns about treatment under the Volcker Rule of collateralized debt obligations backed by trust-preferred securities.

President Obama on Friday formally announced plans to nominate three top officials to serve as governors of the Federal Reserve Board.

Four Oaks Fincorp (FOFN) in Four Oaks, N.C., and its bank have agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle claims they ignored warning signs of a scheme to defraud customers.

A sweeping set of mortgage rules that primarily target underwriting standards is due to take effect on Friday, but lenders, regulators and market experts remain unsure exactly what their impact will be.

The qualified-mortgage rule, reduced refi activity and ongoing commoditization are forcing smaller institutions to take a hard look at exiting the mortgage origination business.

If regulators want to limit the damage in Main Street communities, they should completely exempt Trups CDOs from the Volcker Rule. This would avoid needless writedowns without putting Main Street communities at financial risk.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced legislation Thursday that would require banks to provide greater transparency around prepaid card fees.

Big banks have gotten an unfair rap and regulators an unjustified free pass since the financial crisis -- so argues longtime banking industry analyst Richard X. Bove in a new book. The outspoken Bove, now with Rafferty Capital Equity Research, tells American Banker why he believes the Dodd-Frank Act was unnecessary and federal regulators to blame for failing to prevent the crisis.

The European Commission is sticking to its original Single Euro Payment Area migration deadline of next month, but is establishing a grace period of an extra six months for banks and businesses struggling to make the switch to euro payment formats.

The Dodd-Frank Act and other financial regulations enacted in the wake of the financial crisis have made banking a "worse place" by adding unwieldy and unnecessary restrictions on big banks, says Dick Bove. The longtime bank analyst also points a finger at regulators for failing to adequately enforce existing regulations in the lead-up to the crisis, a point he discusses at length, while defending big banks, in a new book.

Fearless forecasts from BankThink's stable of industry veterans, experts and critics.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee and others are raising concerns about the credibility of a pending watchdog report analyzing whether some banks are still "too big to fail," suggesting some experts it relies on may be too closely tied to Wall Street.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) lost a bid to throw out a lawsuit by the California attorney general alleging that the largest U.S. bank by assets illegally tried to collect debt from about 100,000 credit-card borrowers.

The authors of banking law have shown a strong and recurring interest in name-identification with their work. Eponyms can provoke emotional reactions and facilitate the merger of persona and policy.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue, addressing reporters following the group's annual "State of American Business" address, said the potential reach of the Volcker Rule into smaller, midsized banks was not the intended effect.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., introduced legislation Wednesday that aims to provide the public with more accurate and detailed information about settlements between companies and federal agencies.