Law and regulation

A decision by the FHFA to study further a proposal by Fannie Mae raises questions about industry pressure to head off a plan that seeks to cut premiums by hundreds of millions of dollars and end controversial payments to banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday proposed clarifying the insurance status of foreign deposits in a bid to quell international pressure about how overseas customers are treated in a bank failure.

Banks are beginning to use considerable discretion in deciding what constitutes an illegal act and sometimes even an immoral act. Freeze the funds first ... ask questions later.

American Express Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth I. Chenault netted $15.4 million before taxes from the exercise of stock options and the sale of restricted shares.

The PCI Council’s directions for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards are expanding as mobile commerce grows and when combined with local differences in diverse markets, the new guidance statements can be a compliance challenge for issuers that operate in multiple nations. The use of “compliance-as-a-service,” or CaaS, to provide managed monitoring and compliance updates to keep up with changes is an emerging option for large card issuers.

FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig says large bank reviews are missing key fundamentals and calls for "systematic reviews," similar to what examiners do for community banks.

A plan by Fannie Mae to slash premiums for replacement homeowners insurance has been killed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to people informed of the agency's decision.

Citizens Bank of Kansas is seeking to switch from a national to a state charter.

Ranking members named by the GOP to the Senate Banking Committee's subcommittees include Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Consumer credit reports contain many errors, causing some consumers to pay higher rates for loans, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday.

A new federal rule issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on housing discrimination will likely make it harder for banks to prevail in fair-lending disputes.

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that policymakers continue to face a significant number of headwinds that have stalled often "forceful" efforts by the central bank to jump start an economic recovery.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will require some mortgage servicers to develop general plans for avoiding complications arising from the transfer of servicing rights.

President Obama has given just three official State of the Union addresses (and one unofficial one in 2009), but bank policy has been a sizable part of them, particularly in the early part of his presidency. With the next State of the Union scheduled for Tuesday evening, we look at Obama's past rhetoric against big banks as well as policy proposals and how they fared.

Individuals who blew the whistle on a mortgage fraud scheme that ended up costing JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $296 million in fines have about three months to prove that their information helped lead to the settlement with federal regulators.

Karen Mills is stepping down as the head of the Small Business Administration. On her watch the agency supported $106 billion of loans to small businesses, including a record $30.5 billion in fiscal year 2011.

Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., plans to offer legislation aimed at reducing the size of "too-big-to-fail" banks by requiring them to hold more capital including long-term debt.

Most of the losses banks have caused and suffered could be greatly reduced or eliminated without relying on complex regulations and elaborate risk management. Just promulgate and enforce one simple rule: we tolerate no lying.

Ally Financial, the second-largest remaining investment by the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, will repay the U.S. by 2014 on the strength of its auto-finance business, CEO Michael Carpenter said.

IMGCAP(1)]