Law and regulation

WASHINGTON — Federal policymakers on Wednesday agreed to postpone unwinding their current bond buying program until amassing further evidence of a strengthened economic recovery.

As Washington continues to recover from the recent government shutdown and debt ceiling fight, the Senate Banking Committee is trying to reignite momentum on housing finance reform. The panel is holding two hearings this week while outside groups conduct roundtables on various proposals for government-sponsored enterprise reform. Following are the five largest questions that have to be resolved.

Community banks have a proportionate disadvantage to taxpayer-subsidized megabanks as the crushing burden of regulation meant to stop the abuses of Wall Street rain down excessively on Main Street.

Western Union Co., the world's biggest money-transfer business, tumbled as much as 13 percent after reporting a drop in third-quarter profit and plans to increase expenses tied to regulatory compliance.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in the House and Senate has forged a deal to delay flood insurance premium increases that went into effect earlier this month.

JPMorgan Chase's proposed terms for settling state and federal probes of mortgage-bond sales were rejected by the Department of Justice this week, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Many financial institutions are inadvertently slipping into noncompliance with anti-money laundering rules even as regulators turn up the heat, according to a white paper released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A report released Tuesday says that Treasury and the states are not moving quickly to help unemployed homeowners make their mortgage payments.

The Small Business Administration is temporarily waiving fees on loans of $150,000 or less, and community bankers say it will encourage lenders and borrowers to pursue loans that they had shied away from in recent years.

The Federal Housing Administration has reached a "tipping point" in its mission of providing low-cost protection for homebuyers while trying to keep its insurance fund liquid, Commissioner Carol Galante said today.

The Treasury Department's Michael Stegman further bolstered the Obama administration's support of Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Tuesday, describing how the agency's policies must intersect with mortgage finance reform efforts in Congress.

At the annual Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Washington, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said lenders' concerns about meeting the new mortgage rules are warranted, but they should not worry over legal protections in complying with the regulations.

President Obama plans to nominate Jerome Powell, a former partner at Carlyle Group, to serve another term on the Federal Reserve Board, according to a government official briefed on the matter.

Bank of America may have to pay $5 billion to $8 billion to settle federal claims tied to faulty mortgages after a rival lender's deal set "a relatively high bar," Fitch Ratings said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren weighed in publicly for the first time on the substance of the housing finance reform debate on Tuesday, endorsing a limited but explicit government guarantee, strong underwriting rules and servicer oversight, and secondary market access for smaller institutions.

A draft plan by U.S. regulators to significantly increase a leverage requirement for top U.S. financial institutions is at odds with a separate proposal to force banks to hold highly liquid assets to buffer against market crises, according to senior bank executives.

Lax oversight by the Treasury Department has helped to prevent billions of dollars in aid from reaching struggling homeowners, according to a report released Tuesday by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

PayPal, having long ago charted the state-by-state regulatory waters for U.S. payments companies, is urging a reform to the rules in an effort that could ultimately help other players in its market.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has started the process to end debate on Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., President Obama's nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Sendhil Mullainathan says he had no involvement in the consumer bureau's decision to award a consulting contract to a firm he co-founded.