Financial institutions

The bill passed by the House took a more cautious approach to relief than prior legislative proposals but has still been hailed by banking industry groups.

Originations and margins are thinning, and there will be mortgage banking firms that don't make it through this year, but after that, the numbers may look better.

Call it mutual respect. Bankers from mutually owned British building societies and similarly structured U.S. thrifts recently gathered in New England to address common challenges and share ideas about staying relevant at a time of rapid change in financial services. Here are the takeaways from their meetings.

Nationstar Mortgage has agreed to refund or reverse more than $1 million in inspection fees, settling allegations by Maryland officials it illegally charged homeowners.

Nationstar Mortgage may face a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Act and other regulations, the Mr. Cooper parent company said.

Freddie Mac has quietly started extending credit to nonbanks that issue mortgages, a move it says will help the companies maintain access to a crucial stockpile of cash if their home loans go sour.

Employment among nonbank mortgage lenders and brokers fell in March, erasing the unexpected gains in the previous month.

The reserve bank's proposal to address banks and nonbanks that remain "too big to fail" does not include two of the largest such institutions: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Employment in the nonbank mortgage lender and brokerage sector unexpectedly rose in February after several months of layoffs.

The Treasury's recommendations come as federal bank regulators have indicated they will soon release a proposal to reform Community Reinvestment Act policy.

The biggest legacy of the current regulatory relief effort may be the increasing focus on whether organizing banks in supervisory buckets by asset size makes sense. Yet the bill deals with just one of the two big asset thresholds in the law.

As tight housing inventory continues challenging prospective borrowers, Newfi Lending has launched a new portfolio lending platform in an effort to make homeownership more attainable.

While regulatory relief legislation would raise the asset threshold for “systemically important” banks, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank could still apply prudential scrutiny to banks below that new cutoff.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson told lawmakers that overly rigid False Claims Act enforcement had forced lenders to suffer financially for what were just minor errors, but that lenders' fears of being sued were dissipating.

A day after the Senate passed regulatory relief, top House Republicans vowed to have a big say in the final version before the bill heads to the White House. That raised fresh questions about how quickly the Dodd-Frank reforms will become law.

With the Senate finishing its work on a regulatory relief package, a showdown in the House still looms while critics of Dodd-Frank weigh whether this is their last shot at unwinding it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill to create a permanent law enforcement unit to investigate criminal activity at large banks, just as the Senate was close to passing a regulatory relief package.

Former Rep. Barney Frank rejected concerns voiced by other Democrats that a Senate bill rolling back some provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act will fuel another financial crisis.

Lawmakers on Tuesday continued debating a thicket of proposed additions to a crucial regulatory relief bill on their way to a final vote likely to occur as early as midweek.

From inappropriate touching to belittling comments, women advisors confront workplace environments that are far from welcoming.