Law and regulation

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office has charged a Dallas-based debt management firm with defrauding customers by marketing its services through a now-defunct Web site and direct customer emails.

People — and payment companies — are starting to take Bitcoin seriously.The decentralized virtual currency is overcoming its stigma as a fringe currency for illegal transactions and is stirring up consumer scrutiny of the practices of large payment providers. The payments industry is changing rapidly, but today the movement isn't about payments — it's about data.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo is not backing a "too big to fail" bill introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown and David Vitter this week and doesn't plan to, either.

The Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to reverse a federal appeals court decision that nullified its recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council on Thursday identified several significant areas of concern, including operational risks like cybersecurity, overreliance on wholesale funding, and the impact of low interest-rates.

Facing strict new guidelines on deposit-advance loans, banks must now decide if it's worth their while to offer short-term credit to cash-strapped borrowers.

The Federal Reserve Board has hit two Midwest banks — Freedom Bank in Tulsa, Okla., and Freedom Bancorp. in Lindstrom, Minn. — with enforcement orders.

After House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said on Monday that he would not allow Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to testify on the agency's semi-annual report, Rep. Maxine Waters urged Hensarling to reconsider.

Sen. Sherrod Brown was flummoxed this week by a critic's description of herself as the "Judas goat" of Wall Street.

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp in Philadelphia is the subject of a governmental investigation into its residential real estate lending.

The Terminating Bailouts for Taxpayer Fairness Act adds more regulatory uncertainty to a financial sector that desperately needs clarity and direction.

Two federal regulators — the FDIC and the OCC — issued guidance on deposit-advance products that establish strict underwriting standards for payday loans offered by banks and any related third-party vendor.

During a lengthy interview, Jim Rohr, until recently the chief executive of PNC Financial Group, talked about cybersecurity, "too big to fail" and his bank's culture.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a bundle of rules designed to protect consumers involved in everything from auto loans and money transfers to mortgages. Some of those protections will result in higher costs for the very people they're designed to protect. Behind the trend: financial institutions that are passing along the cost of complying with new regulatory burdens or are pulling out of certain markets altogether.

More than a decade ago, regulators nearly suffocated PayPal. Now it looks like they're trying to squelch another disruptive, innovative payments system.

Iceland's Supreme Court ordered Valitor hf, the Icelandic partner of MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc., to process card payments for anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks within 15 days or face daily penalties.

Capital One agreed to pay $3.5 million to resolve U.S. regulatory claims the bank set aside inadequate reserves for auto loan losses in 2007.

A consumer watchdog group in Canada is speaking out in support of the major card brands in response to an argument brought by the country's Competition Bureau on behalf of retailers.

Sens. David Vitter and Sherrod Brown are courting a key constituency — small banks — that they hope can help build support for their legislation to tackle "too big to fail."

Promontory Financial Group has hired Linda Gallagher, the head of KPMG's financial services regulatory department, as head of its consumer protection practice.