Regulators

In two of the biggest civil settlements since the financial crisis, the nation's biggest banks agreed Monday to cough up nearly $19 billion to resolve federal allegations of mortgage misdeeds. Bankers saw the settlements as a major step in providing more certainty for their balance sheets and possibly foreshadowing an end to the era of billion-dollar mea culpas and open-ended regulatory probes. In one case, 10 banks settled with regulators for $8.5 billion. In the second, Bank of America Corp.

Did regulators move too fast in taking down Arrowhead Credit Union, as a prominent financial consultant contended? Or was the San Bernardino nonprofit heading for ruin and misrepresenting its financial condition, as a spokesman for its federal regulator said? One thing is certain: The dispute over the 152,000-member credit union shows that regulators can expect more pushback as they intensify scrutiny of the financial institutions. "The kind of [confrontational] situation we're seeing at Arrowhead can occur at other credit unions," said David Chatfield, acting chief executive of the California and Nevada Credit Union League trade group.

SACRAMENTO -- Ethics officials are reviewing allegations that two of state's top environmental regulators violated conflict-of-interest rules by regulating companies in which they own stock. Officials at the Fair Political Practices Commission said Wednesday they are studying a complaint that Odette Madriago, chief deputy director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and Stewart Black, deputy director of the agency's brownfields and environmental restoration division, may have improperly taken regulatory actions affecting the operations of oil, chemical and manufacturing companies in which they have financial interests.

Federal safety regulators are warning that counterfeit air bags are being installed by auto repair shops that might not deploy in an accident or alternately, could explode, sending metal shrapnel into the vehicle's passenger cabin. “We want consumers to be immediately aware of this problem and to review our safety information to see if their vehicle could be in need of inspection,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The fake air bags look nearly identical to certified, original-equipment parts, right down to bearing the insignia and branding of major automakers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Palm Desert National Bank was seized by regulators Friday and sold to Pacific Premier Bank of Costa Mesa, which promised to be open for business as usual Monday.  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said depositors of the one-branch bank would be unaffected because Pacific Premier agreed to take all $123 million in Palm Desert deposits. Pacific Premier President Stephen Gardner said customers of the Palm Desert bank "will continue to conduct business as normal with the employees with whom they have built a solid long-term relationship.

NEW YORK -- Securities regulators are amping up their interest in Facebook's lackluster initial public offering. Morgan Stanley may have shared an analyst's negative reports with some institutional investors but not others ahead of the social networking firm's high-profile IPO last week, according to news reports. "If true, the allegations are a matter of regulatory concern to FINRA and the SEC," Rick Ketchum, chairman and chief executive officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, said in an emailed statement.

WASHINGTON -- Regulators on Tuesday released shortened public versions of breakup plans known as "living wills" that the nine largest banks were required to submit so the government could safely shut them down if they were in danger of collapsing. The resolution plans were required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law to prevent the chaos that swept through the financial system when Lehman Bros. failed in September 2008. Banks with more than $250 billion in non-bank assets were the first financial institutions required to submit the plans to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which will review them.

A former commodities trader pleaded guilty Monday to threatening to kill more than 40 financial regulators, including the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Vincent McCrudden, 50, admitted in court that he posted the threats on his company's website in December, asking for help executing his plan. His guilty plea came the day testimony was to begin in his federal trial, said his lawyer, Bruce Barket. McCrudden pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, N.Y., to two counts of transmission of threats to injure.

U.S. aviation regulators proposed to fine Boeing Co. $13.6 million for delays in telling airlines how to install devices on 383 aircraft to prevent fuel-tank explosions. Boeing was given a Dec. 27, 2010 deadline to submit instructions on how to add the systems in its U.S.-registered 747 jumbo jets and 757 single-aisle planes, according an e- mailed statement today by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Chicago-based company missed the deadline for 747s by 301 days, and was 406 days late for 757s, according to the FAA release.

Major U.S. banks are about to get penalized for "critical deficiencies" and shortcomings in how they handled foreclosures, a top federal regulator said Thursday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing examining the Dodd-Frank Act six months after its congressional approval. "These deficiencies have resulted in violations of state and local foreclosure laws, regulations or rules," said John Walsh, acting comptroller of the currency. Banking regulators are preparing sanctions and "remedial requirements," he said.