Financial Regulatory Forum

By Brett Wolf

ST. LOUIS/NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - Although Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the recreational use and sale of marijuana with the passage of ballot measures on Tuesday, financial institutions across the country should continue to refuse to do business with marijuana businesses, anti-money laundering experts said.
“If financial institutions are federally licensed or insured, they must comply with federal regulations, and those regulations are clear about conducting financial transactions with money generated by the sale of narcotics,” said Jim Dowling, a former Internal Revenue Service special agent who also acted as an anti-money laundering advisor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.  (more…)

By Bora Yagiz

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s proposed rules earlier this month on mortgage servicing are a step in the right direction in its efforts to uproot the malpractices that were once prevalent in the subprime mortgage market. The proposals suffer from a few shortcomings, however, not the least because the Bureau, with its “one-size-fits-all” approach, seems to have ignored the nuances between the different players within the servicing industry. (more…)

By Emmanuel Olaoye

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The U.S. Justice Department disputed charges by community bankers that it is unfairly targeting them with fair lending actions, and said the cases have been consistent with the criteria it has used to bring cases in the last 15 years.

Eric Halperin, special counsel for Fair Lending at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, told Thomson Reuters on Tuesday that the criteria used to bring enforcement actions is consistent with those used in the Bush and Clinton Administrations.

(more…)

   By Karey Wutkowski
WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – U.S regulators on Friday encouraged banks to modify troubled commercial real estate loans, which are seen as a looming danger spot for the banking industry.

(more…)