State regulators

The acting head of New York’s Department of Financial Services will step down before the end of the year, giving New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a run at reshaping a regulator that has levied billions of dollars of penalties against international banks and at times raised hackles in foreign capitals.

Mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial failed four servicing tests in the second half of 2014. Joseph A. Smith Jr., the monitor of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement, said the Atlanta servicer was “beginning to show progress” in complying with terms of the 2012 agreement.

David H. Stevens, the Mortgage Bankers Association's president, pledged to "shine an aggressive spotlight on abusive enforcement" at the trade group's annual gathering, specifically calling out the Department of Justice.

The clash between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its inspector general over down payment assistance programs run by state or local housing finance agencies continues to heat up.

JPMorgan Chase has paid off $3.56 billion of the $4 billion it owes in consumer relief credit as part of a 2013 settlement over marred mortgage-backed securities issued before the crisis.

California lawmakers passed legislation to change the way communities wind down their shuttered redevelopment agencies, leaving cities and their advocates trying to tally the effects of the last-minute bill.

Evans Bancorp in Hamburg, N.Y., has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of mortgage redlining.

The only thing more ominous than a CFPB investigation is when the FDIC and OCC join in on the action.

Ocwen Financial's internal review group is "independent," and the Atlanta servicer is in compliance with the national mortgage settlement, settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith said Tuesday.

A New York law that was invalidated by a federal judge was one of many efforts by big cities to pressure banks into making more investments in local communities after the crisis. Some municipal laws could be more vulnerable to bankers' legal challenges than others.