Corporate Governance

The Social Security Disability Insurance Program looks to be to be the first federal benefits program to run out of cash, due to become insolvent in four to seven years.

American companies want to expand in China, but worry whether the Chinese bureaucracy will favor local companies over foreign ones.

Freshman Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) is catching heat back home from retailers for backing a delay on limits on debit-card fees.

A federal bankruptcy judge has refused to hand over an Amish Ponzi schemer to his religious community.

Investors are getting ready to jump back into the Egyptian stock market when it reopens this week after a two-month closure.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $10 million to settle civil charges that its employees bribed government officials from South Korea and China.

The agreement would draw to a close a suit the SEC filed against IBM, which alleges IBM employees provided cash payments, improper gifts and improper travel and entertainment to the officials. The proposed settlement still is subject to approval of the court.

The GOP bill would shift the consumer bureau to a five-member board, ensuring Republicans a voice. 

The White House has threatened to veto the bill, and the Senate is not expected to pick it up. 

Business groups are warning that it might be impossible to comply with proposed rules requiring companies to track minerals' origin.

Top U.S. regulators are heading to Capitol Hill later this week to discuss the implementation of rules on the multitrillion-dollar over-the-counter derivatives market. 

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, charged with writing new rules for swaps, will testify Thursday, along with market participants before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, the CFTC and SEC are charged with writing new regulations for the swaps market after largely unregulated trades contributed to the financial crisis in 2008, leading to a bailout of some of the nation's largest firms. 

The Transportation Department on Monday issued its first-ever penalty on an airline for failing to disclose fees or restrictions on vouchers given to passengers for voluntarily giving up their seat on oversold flights.

American Airlines was assessed a $90,000 civil penalty for charging customers a ticketing fee for as much as a $30 for redeeming vouchers after agreeing to give up their seats on overbooked flights. 

"When passengers volunteer to give up their seat on an oversold flight, they are entitled to be fully compensated, not to find out later that they’re getting $30 less," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The House Financial Services Committee unveiled its packed March schedule Friday, which includes 13 events in 17 days.

The panel will be delving into a number of hot topics, including housing finance reform, the nation's monetary policy, and the implementation of Dodd-Frank. Several of those hearings involve testimony from top financial officials in the federal government.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is pushing back against skeptical comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about one of his pet provisions, telling the central bank chairman that he has "echoed the financial industry's talking points."

Durbin took to task comments made Wednesday by Bernanke, in which the chairman suggested a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, pushed by Durbin, could have negative implications for smaller banks.

Federal banking regulators cast doubt Wednesday on how well small banks might be protected from new limits on debit-card fees, throwing fuel on what was already a hot debate on so-called interchange fees.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday that even though small banks are exempted from the new limits on debit-card fees, they still might have to lower the amount they charge merchants for transactions in order to compete with big banks, which would face strict limits on what they can charge.