Federal News

Obama Administration Steps Up Financial Reform Drive

The Obama administration stepped up its push for tougher bank and financial firm rules Thursday, scheduling a briefing for lobbyists, with a focus on insurance oversight, and sending a top regulator to a Senate hearing to discuss plans for regulating …

Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor Shows Record of Favoring Insurers

The Supreme Court almost never takes up insurance related cases. Even so, President Obama’s recent nominee brings a long record of decisions favoring insurers, a possible plus for the insurance industry, said Philadelphia based insurance attorney Randy J. Maniloff. Maniloff, …

Obama Financial Reform Plan Faces Tough Road Ahead

The Obama administration’s ambitious draft plan to redraw U.S. financial regulation has been panned by banking groups, setting the stage for a bruising months-long battle among lawmakers and federal agencies. Signs have already emerged that political reality is forcing the …

Obama Regulatory Overhaul Features Fed Reserve, FDIC, Consumer Agency

Obama administration is proposing that the Federal Reserve serve as an all-seeing regulator to detect activities that could pose risks to the entire financial system. Under a plan circulating among key lawmakers, the administration also is recommending a new agency …

U.S. Has Paid $1 Billion in Claims to Tennessee Nuclear Workers

The government has paid out more than $1 billion in claims to 9,134 Tennesseans made ill from working in the nuclear weapons facilities at Oak Ridge during the Cold War. The Labor Department announced the latest tally, saying others may …

Administration Debating Powers of Proposed Systemic Risk Regulator

The Obama administration is weighing if a new systemic risk regulator should have the power to conduct on-site examinations of banks, broker-dealers and other market players suspected of posing a threat to the U.S. financial system, a source familiar with …

Dismissal of Engineering Firm from Mississippi Katrina Case Upheld

A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a judge’s ruling that dismissed an engineering firm from a lawsuit involving a Hurricane Katrina damage case. David and Marilyn Aikens, of Pass Christian, Miss., appealed U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter …

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Merck Appeal on Reinstated Investor Lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would hear an appeal by Merck & Co. Inc. of a ruling that reinstated a securities fraud lawsuit involving the company’s disclosures to investors about its withdrawn Vioxx pain drug. The justices …

FDIC: New Fee System to Replenish Insurance Fund

Federal regulators last Friday adopted a new system of special fees paid by U.S. financial institutions that will shift more of the burden to bigger banks to help replenish the deposit insurance fund. The move by the Federal Deposit Insurance …

National Insurance Producer Licensing Bill Reintroduced in Congress

Federal legislation designed to streamline licensing for insurance agents and brokers operating in multiple states has been reintroduced in Congress. The legislation (HR 2554), the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2009, or NARAB II as …