Compliance & Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to establish "clear goals that make sense to the American people," according to Elizabeth Warren who has been charged by President Obama to set up the new agency.

In a sign that the banking business is bouncing off the bottom of the economic trough, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is ready to start insuring new charters.

Revealing that federal banking agencies have found significant "structural problems" in the mortgage servicing industry, Federal Reserve Gov. Dan Tarullo is calling for the creation of national foreclosure standards.

FDIC chairman Sheila Bair is calling on Treasury officials to streamline the loan modification process and require writedowns of second mortgages.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is ordering residential servicers under its purview to stop dual tracking foreclosure proceedings and loan modifications whenever legally possible.

To quell doubts about its mortgage unit's handling of documents, Bank of America Corp. is distancing itself from…itself.B of A now says that a senior litigation manager—who had 10 years' experience working at Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP—was out of her depth when she testified in a New Jersey courtroom about the unit's document practices.

The Federal Reserve is giving lenders two options for determining "customary and reasonable" appraisal fees and it appears many are moving toward the more pragmatic approach instead of relying on independent surveys.

Consumer attorneys and legal services groups are urging the Federal Reserve to withdraw a proposal that might "eviscerate" borrowers' rights to rescind abusive mortgages and stop foreclosures.

The two federal agencies that have a stake in regulating consumer privacy issues, the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission, are expected to issue recommendations for a privacy regulatory framework.

Fraud risk control is commonly recognized as an effective way to avoid loan buybacks.Avivah Litan, vice president and analyst at Gartner research firm, says lenders who want to remain competitive in fraud management are also aware that they “cannot continue doing business as usual.”