Enforcement

While most federal banking regulators use enforcement actions as a way to shape industry practices, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking that to a whole other level, frequently using orders as a substitute for new rules or guidelines.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group took a surprise $5.2 billion hit to the value of its assets and set aside more money for past misconduct, limiting CEO Ross McEwan's ability to return capital to shareholders.

Bank of America and nine other banks have agreed to pay about $63 million to settle claims they misled the state of Virginia into buying faulty residential mortgage-backed securities.

Sun Bancorp in Mount Laurel, N.J., has agreed to pay $25,000 to resolve issues connected to the company’s former Sun Home Loans division.

A New Jersey man has been sentenced to six years in prison for running a scam that victimized distressed homeowners and private investors.

Ocwen Financial Corp. will pay $2 million to settle charges that it misstated its financial results in valuing complex mortgage assets, said the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Overlapping missions and jurisdictions are fueling competition between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, according to former officials at both agencies.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income dropped 65% because of the costs to settle a mortgage probe.

Goldman Sachs said it agreed to settle a U.S. probe into its handling of mortgage-backed securities for about $5.1 billion, cutting its fourth-quarter profit by about $1.5 billion.

For luxury-home developers and brokers in Miami and Manhattan who are already contending with slumping prices and slowing demand, the U.S. government's decision to start scrutinizing all-cash buyers was more bad news.