banking reform

Bank of America plans to restructure customer bank accounts and fees to make up for lost revenue from new regulations.

Bank of America (BAC) may introduce a tiered fee structure modeled on mobile phone service contracts. Under the proposed scheme, the bank would reward customers who maintain minimum current account balances, use their credit card a certain number of times each month, or do all their banking...

"It felt like the world was on fire," recalls financial writer Andrew Ross Sorkin, whose book Too Big To Fail covers the crisis at its peak. In an interview, he discusses the meltdown, its aftermath, the quest for power on Wall Street and why more regulation is still needed.

Proposed banking reforms will create a consumer financial protection bureau that sets rules for all financial transactions, such as lower costs for debit card use to merchants. But less revenue for banks may mean higher fees for consumers.

One of the key questions facing Congress as it labors to reconcile the House and Senate bills is this: Three years after the financial crisis began, how much risk should America's banks be allowed to take? Not surprisingly, opinions differ greatly.

In less than 30 minutes, the Senate Banking Committee approved major financial service reform legislation by a party-line 13-10 vote, after Republicans withdrew hundreds of amendments, electing to save their fight on the bill when the full Senate takes up the legislation after Easter.

President Obama's banking plan is the most far-reaching proposal since the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which was meant to safeguard the US financial system. The law separated commercial banking from investment banking, resulting in a spike in dealmaking. Obama's plan is likely to do the same.

As Congress gets more and more angry about excessive bonuses for bankers, the nation's biggest banks could lose one of their favorite defenses against stronger consumer protections -- the preemption doctrine. The House Financial Services Committee will likely vote Tuesday to allow state governments...