Law and regulation

Banks and thrifts earned $34.7 billion in the fourth quarter to close out 2012 with the second biggest full-year profit ever, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now become the gatekeepers for underwriting qualified mortgages. This guidance might be a safe harbor from litigation, but history indicates it may fail as a safe harbor from risky lending.

The FHFA abruptly killed a Fannie Mae plan earlier this month that promised to save the GSE hundreds of millions of dollars in force-placed insurance premiums. Critics see industry pressure as the culprit.

Firms managing some of the largest money market mutual funds in the U.S. are sending one clear message to the Financial Stability Oversight Council: Leave us alone.

Too-big-too-fail worries in the U.S. make the full sale of Royal Bank of Scotland's Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., highly unlikely, despite speculation about potential buyers.

Sen. Bob Corker released a statement downplaying an earlier report that suggested the lawmaker is "angling to broker a compromise" with President Obama over the confirmation of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The FDIC and the European Commission earlier this month held the first of what is expected to be two "working group" meetings this year on international coordination.

Policymakers can shape the Dodd-Frank risk retention requirements in a way that brings private investment back to the multifamily mortgage business. The window of opportunity is short.

Stakeholders have been offered more time from the Federal Reserve Board to weigh in on the proposal that would overhaul the way the U.S. central bank supervises foreign banks operating within the U.S.

Radio silence from the CFPB on how it views the enforcement of fair lending laws is making community bankers nervous.

It was a quiet week in Washington last week, with lawmakers out of town for President's Day. But the threat of sequester continues to hang over Capitol Hill, and regulators are making plans about what to target next. Following are the top five stories in Regulation and Reform last week:

The Bipartisan Policy Center has released a proposal that calls for a catastrophic government guarantee to backstop mortgages, similar to an idea first floated by the Treasury Department two years ago.

Monday marked the 150th anniversary of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a landmark the agency noted by touting its accomplishments.

A century and a half ago, the National Bank Act was born with a mission to promote a strong, vibrant national banking system. What it created was a dual banking system that has been meeting the changing needs of bank customers ever since.

A California man has been accused of running a scheme to prevent banks from foreclosing on properties.

The Treasury Department has begun an auction for its Troubled Asset Relief Program stake in nine more banks.

Take the Federal Housing Administration out of HUD and put it under a commission. A self-funded, independent government corporation would be a major step toward comprehensive housing finance reform.

With fears growing about the debt collection practices of payday lenders in England, the Office of Fair Trading now has the authority to suspend collection agencies that target certain vulnerable consumers.

When a single official has very great power over a small number of firms such as the megabanks, the result too often is regulatory capture.

Today’s modern payment systems have their genesis in a number of older ventures that plied everything from the Web to biometrics to enable digital commerce. Some are gone, and some have evolved unrecognizably into their current form. Here’s a look.