News Topic: law-regulation

In light of a recent op-ed about pawnbrokers denied banking services, it's worth reiterating that the FDIC encourages banks to assess individual businesses for risk rather than declining to provide services to entire categories of customers. ... Read full article

Former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker is far from the first watchdog to suggest the U.S. regulatory system is badly in need of a common-sense makeover. Yet a confusing and ineffective structure remains the status quo. ... Read full article

Mortgage lenders are stressed about how the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure rule will impact their business. But the new forms may give them a chance to improve business performance. ... Read full article

If banks consider licensed and regularly supervised pawnbrokers with many compliance responsibilities to be too risky to bank, then what Main Street businesses are safe? ... Read full article

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on the sale of GE Capital and how the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure forms will shake up the industry. ... Read full article

The Basel Committee needs to measure the efficacy of recently implemented rules, strengthen banks' operational risk requirements and make banks' risk models less variable. Luckily, secretary general William Coen has vowed to do just that. ... Read full article

General Electric's plan to sell most of its financing arm has been hailed as a sign that financial reform is successfully persuading too big to fail firms to break up. But the end of GE Capital just means that the conglomerates left standing are even ... Read full article

As Basel III gets ready to turn five years old this summer, recently appointed Basel Committee secretary general William Coen is taking the necessary step of ensuring that new capital ratio, liquidity standard and leverage ratio rules work well together. ... Read full article

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on regulatory complexity, Jamie Dimon's defense of the megabank model, and how vulnerable banks really are to tech startups. ... Read full article

Merchants argue that Fed policy allows banks to overcharge stores for debit-card swipe fees, resulting in higher prices for consumers. But the revenue banks earn on interchange fees benefits all Americans, since financial institutions invest a portion of ... Read full article

Any banker considering filing an appeal against examination findings will first weigh the drawbacks of irking regulators. This explains the surprisingly small number of appeals that regulators have received in the last few years. ... Read full article

It's ironic that banks want to streamline the regulatory structure when their own structures are hardly paradigms of simplicity. Rather than weaken rules or consolidate agencies, we should focus on improving the quality of oversight Â-- and on ... Read full article

Congress should take the interests of small and midsize mortgage lenders into account as it weighs regulatory reform for community banks. Exempting smaller lenders from random CFPB audits would be a good start. ... Read full article

Critics say the SEC uses too liberal a hand in granting waivers that allow firms that violate securities laws to be exempted from certain penalties. But the agency needs these waivers to adjust rules designed to be overly broad. ... Read full article

The Fed was right to aggressively lower interest rates after the 2008 crisis. But continuing with zero interest rates and quantitative easing for seven years after the crisis is in conflict with the goal of increased employment and economic growth. ... Read full article

A two-tiered system of regulation could encourage small banks to maintain their relationship-based business model and prevent big banks from using insured deposits to conduct risky activities. ... Read full article

A growing lack of transparency between some businesses and their banking service providers threatens our ability to effectively manage money laundering and terrorist financing risk. ... Read full article

Not only do the FDIC's limitations on brokered deposits curtail bank earnings, they deny banks the ability to use brokered deposits to meet community lending needs. ... Read full article