Regulation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair opened the door Thursday to extending blanket deposit insurance coverage on business accounts, but disagreed with another regulator's push to count more loan-loss reserves as capital.

The unwinding of the Federal Reserve's liquidity programs is unlikely to boost the sickly yields on tax-free money market funds, participants say.

Redemption fees successfully protect mutual funds from short-term traders, whose churning can serious hurt fund performance, according to “Redemption Fees: Reward for Punishment,” authored by three researchers at Texas Tech University’s Division of Personal Financial Planning.

A Dutch pension fund is the latest in a string of lawsuits against the banking company.

In a move that surprised the industry Wednesday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s head of enforcement announced to her employees that she would step down.

But the organization remains strongly opposed to doing away with a steady net asset value, which is usually $1.00 per share, and is a fundamental feature of money market funds.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a vigorous defense of his agency's oversight of holding companies and state banks, rejecting a Senate bill that would strip them of supervisory powers over all but the biggest institutions.

Preemption process would be complex, more burdensome

The latest regulatory reform proposal from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd would have far-reaching implications for day-to-day operations at most banks and thrifts, changing which regulators oversee them and potentially broadening the number considered systemically important.

Far from being the big winner under Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's regulatory reform bill, the Federal Reserve System would undergo radical changes — including a likely consolidation of its 12 district banks — if the legislation were enacted.