Regulation

House conferees reached an accord with Sen. Richard Durbin on a provision of the regulatory reform bill that would allow the Fed to regulate interchange fees on debit cards.

Now that custodians like Schwab Advisor Services will have to report the same information directly to the Internal Revenue Service, Schwab is taking steps to ensure that they and their advisor clients move in lock step with each other to avoid running afoul of the IRS’s new rules.

The Senate is considering a set of exemptions to the Volcker Rule that would allow the asset management divisions of banks to continue business as usual when it comes to investing client money in hedge funds and private equity.

A two-year extension to the Build America Bonds program, as well as extensions to a handful of other bond provisions set to expire at the end of the year, remain in legislative limbo as Senate Democratic leaders this week continue attempts to produce a tax bill that they can pass.

The conference committee made critical changes to the regulatory reform bill in its first substantive week of work, but the hardest decisions are still ahead.

The big three credit rating agencies have long made the disclaimer that investors should not use ratings as a substitute for independent judgment. Now regulators want banks to prove they aren't doing that.

American Banker's front-page story lays out the details of how the financial regulatory reform bill, now at a critical juncture in House-Senate conference committee, would change the banking and retail investment management industries: http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/175_117/senate-financial-reform-1021072-1.html

House and Senate conferees meeting to hammer out a financial regulatory reform bill appear to have reached an agreement that would allow the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to regulate financial advisers and other market intermediaries.

Neither criminal prosecutors nor the SEC ever filed charges against AIG or any executives.

The House approved a bill 241 to 182 on Thursday that would create a $30 billion fund that community banks could access for small business loans.