Law and regulation

Consumers filed a total of 1,139 lawsuits in March, up from 1,043 in February, as Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases continue to post slight monthly gains in 2013, bucking a downward trend seen last year, according to WebRecon LLC.

The introduction of more private, risk-bearing capital to housing finance should expand homeownership possibilities.

When PayPal begins distributing the EMV-chip card version of its PayPal Here mobile card reader in the U.K. this year, it will follow a pattern the eBay unit established in the U.S. of targeting a narrower market than its rivals do.

Tim Pawlenty, the CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, weighs in on the debate over breaking up the big banks, and says that the Dodd-Frank Act ended too big to fail in the eyes of policymakers.

Regulators seized two banks in Florida, and one in Kentucky, in a trio of failures Friday.

The troubled Metropolitan Bank Group in Chicago has been ordered by the Federal Reserve not to boost the pay of its directors or officers without the Fed's permission.

Regulators must "resist pressures to ring-fence national markets," said Mark Carney, chairman of the Financial Stability Board and future head of the Bank of England.

The burden on small banks from a new escrow rule for higher-priced mortgages should be relatively small, according to guidance released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has lifted a regulatory order from Macatawa Bank (MCBC) in Holland, Mich.

Possibly viewing Bitfloor, a popular Bitcoin exchange, as a risky money transmitting business, Capital One Financial Corp. has closed the exchange's bank account, prompting Bitfloor to halt operations. The incident may portend a growing wariness of businesses that handle virtual currencies.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's has decided that trust-only banks must first get FDIC insurance, a move that may drive greater interest in state trust charters and subject some parties to a federal freeze on nonfinancial firms owning limited-purpose banks.

Muhammad Yunus, the founder of nonprofit microlender Grameen Bank, received the Congressional Gold Medal this week, adding to his collection of awards that also include the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jeremy Stein said Friday that policymakers should consider reducing a bank's reliance on central bank lending to meet a liquidity requirement under Basel III.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, introduced legislation Friday to give the Securities and Exchange Commission the authority to impose and collect user fees from investment advisors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, reports that there are more than fifty different "senior designations" that financial advisors are using to bring in older consumers into the business.

Legislative efforts to strengthen the nation's cyber defenses are shifting to the U.S. Senate after passage of a controversial bill by the House of Representatives.

Mutuals are evaluating proposed legislation that would create a new type of preferred stock and create a federal charter that allows for more commercial lending.

Freshman Rep. Keith Rothfus has been appointed to the House Financial Services Committee.

Spending several million dollars to beef up risk management processes would be an easy decision if it saved hundreds of millions in deposit assessments each year. Also, Camels should become Carmels.

The cost of being big is multiplying, and that's driving a wedge between the largest banks and the next tier.