Law and regulation

LNB Bancorp in Lorain, Ohio, has retired a large chunk of its bailout money by offering its owners common stock.

Several housing groups are urging lawmakers to stop using certain fee increases at government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offset unrelated spending.

Banks are going to have to work harder next year if they want to continue to pass the Federal Reserve Board's annual stress test exercise.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, all but begged lawmakers on Tuesday to begin the process of reforming the nation's housing finance system, saying Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in conservatorship for far too long.

The Senate Banking Committee continued to debate possible housing finance reform strategies at a hearing on Tuesday, including what kind of leadership is needed at FHFA.

About a month after declaring dissatisfaction with Visa or MasterCard's options for a common code to allow routing options for EMV debit transactions, regional debit networks have chosen to work with Discover Financial Services.

The fragile Bitcoin economy will change drastically as companies scramble to obtain the proper licensing in response to guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which categorizes administrators and exchangers of virtual currencies as money services businesses.

The European banks that own Visa Europe are reportedly considering selling the entity to U.S.-based Visa Inc. to clear the way for an eventual rival system in Europe.

Instead of its just releasing out-of-court agreements on request, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has devoted an area of its website for posting settlement documents that will be updated regularly.

The Federal Reserve Board has taken action against a Midwest banking company.

Breaking up big banks as way to score our pound of flesh post-financial crisis could result in increased unemployment, higher credit costs for all and a transfer of risk from banks to lightly regulated shadow financial institutions.

At a confirmation vote on Tuesday morning, the Senate Banking Committee was split down party lines in support of Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The panel voted in favor of Mary Jo White to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, with only one vote against her nomination.

Genesco's $13 million lawsuit against Visa Inc., filed last week in a Tennessee court, has a similar ring to it as a countersuit Cisero's Ristorante and Nightclub in Park City, Utah filed last year against its acquiring bank and processor.

Mary Jo White, Obama's nominee to head the SEC, received near-unanimous support from the Senate Banking Committee during a vote Tuesday morning, while backing for Richard Cordray, director of the CFPB, was split as expected along party lines.

Rewriting the longstanding structures of corporate law and the roles and responsibilities of bank boards could create chaos in the global corporate and financial structures.

The London Whale, the attorney general's "too big to jail" bombshell and stress test failures have all added to the calls for big banks to split up. For the first time since the financial crisis, shotgun breakups are becoming a very real possibility.

There's an emerging bipartisan consensus on the way forward for the secondary mortgage market. But as Congress has punted, the FHFA is taking significant steps without hearings or public discussion.

Equifax Information Services agreed to pay nearly $400,000 to settle charges the company sold lists of millions of consumers who were late on their mortgages.

While the federal government's in a cost-cutting mood, electronic payment providers are actively promoting their wares to the agencies and companies affected by the new constraints.

A bill by Minnesota's Rep. Keith Ellison would cap the mortgage interest deduction at the first $500,000 of a home loan and use the anticipated savings to invest in low- and moderate-income housing.