News Topic: law-regulation

Even if the Federal Reserve decides to begin raising rates this September, banks are unlikely to get the boost they've been hoping for. That's because pent-up customer demand for attractive yields may force banks to raise deposit rates more ... Read full article

The North Carolina-based BB&T is far larger than any other bank regulated by the FDIC. It should be under the supervision of an agency with more experience overseeing large banks. ... Read full article

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including banks' subpar shareholder value and how big-data advocates can better communicate with critics who worry about the technology's potential ... Read full article

The FDIC has proposed a plan that would increase premiums for banks that use reciprocal depositsÂ--a tool that community development financial institutions rely upon to meet credit demand in low-income communities. ... Read full article

The key to housing finance reform is a new securitization model that allows the private sector to price and absorb the majority of housing credit risk. ... Read full article

Regulators are insisting that bank boards take responsibility for corporate culture. That's no cause for alarm, so long as directors are prepared to take ownership of the issue. ... Read full article

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including demands for more transparency on banks' small-business lending and why the average American should care about the GSE investors lawsuit. ... Read full article

Every consumer with a 401(k), retirement account or brokerage account ought to care about whether the government has the right to unilaterally amend a companyÂ's operating agreement. ... Read full article

Minorities receive surprisingly few small-business loans, high-level employment promotions and business contract opportunities. The federal government can help remedy the situation by collected detailed data on these matters from financial institutions. ... Read full article

A new study by the Richmond Fed confirms that swipe fees have only gone down for a small fraction of merchants, contrary to congressional intent. This finding should spur the central bank to limit price-fixing to a reasonable level. ... Read full article

ItÂ's time for the mortgage industry to take a lesson from the presidential hopefuls who have gained an upper hand by playing up their individual brands. ... Read full article

Banks need more clarity about the circumstances under which attorney-client privilege applies. Otherwise they may decline to ask questions about the legality of their actions, leading to even more compliance problems. ... Read full article

The contradictory nature of data privacy and anti-money-laundering rules in the U.S. and E.U. pose a big challenge for multinational banks. But the financial sector can help fix the problem by establishing industry standards that balance national security ... Read full article

Families that use state-issued EBT cards often face ATM fees that eat away at their already-meager incomes. Banks should waive those fees in order to ensure that all public assistance dollars go toward household needs. ... Read full article

Some large U.S. banks are likely to be impacted by recent volatility in emerging markets like Brazil and China. But their opaque risk metrics make it difficult for investors to judge banks' level of exposure. ... Read full article

Before it dissolves in late September, a bipartisan House task force should take a broader look at de-risking, changing technologies, cybersecurity and the private sector's role in deterring terrorism financing. ... Read full article

The Financial Stability Oversight Council has a mandate to designate nonbank financial companies as systemically important based on criteria established by Congress. Its designation decisions should not be pre-determined by the actions of global ... Read full article

Critics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's data collection haven't bothered to learn the basic facts about the data the regulator collects before veering off into black helicopter paranoia. ... Read full article