Consolidation has slowed since the pandemic, but UMB's agreement to buy Heartland Financial — the largest deal in three years — is one of several merger announcements in the past two weeks. Talks among other potential buyers and sellers are said to be picking up.

The Biden Administration's title waiver pilot has started a broader discussion on whether the product is worth the money paid or even needed at all and can be replaced by an alternative.

Senior executives making over $151,000 would still be subject to such clauses should the rule go into effect this year.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has seen excessive property-inspection charges, fees that loan mods should eliminate and improper line-item labels.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO took aim Tuesday at the proposed Basel III endgame rules, hindrances to mergers and bureaucratic burdens. "I would love to have a more productive relationship with regulators, but I think it takes conversation," Dimon said.

Many legal experts think the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a case challenging its funding. Such a ruling would unleash a flurry of litigation that has been on hold pending the outcome of the constitutional challenge.

The Federal Reserve's Office of the Inspector General says the Fed has yet to fulfill 65 recommendations, and also identified 18 outstanding issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

According to the Federal Reserve Board's latest financial stability report, persistent inflation and policy uncertainty are the primary worries for banks. Survey respondents expressed heightened anxiety over murky policy outlooks due to geopolitical turmoil and rapidly approaching domestic elections.

Banks and other private lenders could help ease the liquidity crisis facing some companies that service Ginnie Mae mortgages, but are currently prevented from doing so by the agency's rules. A simple fix would benefit everyone involved.

Ohio-based Liberty Home Mortgage joins several companies who started using a more modernized FICO credit score for nonconforming mortgage originations recently.