Financial Regulation

Sarah Bloom Raskin is deeply interested in the economy's effect on everyday life, a driving force in her work to keep Marylanders from being scammed, foreclosed on or caught up in a bank failure. That consumer focus caught White House attention. Raskin, Maryland's top financial regulator, is one of three nominated Thursday by President Barack Obama to fill empty seats on the powerful Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She would join at a fraught time for the Fed, which has been criticized for paying too little attention to consumer issues.

Maryland's financial regulators have been busy for several years now, sorting through the fallout from the financial crisis and the real estate collapse. The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation oversees state-chartered banks and is responsible for ensuring that other financial companies — such as mortgage lenders, brokers and debt-collection agencies — operate properly in the state. Most recently, the office has been pursuing unlicensed debt collectors and ramping up efforts to make sure that licensed collectors have enough documentation when trying to win court judgments.

Immigration reform is the right issue — at the wrong time. It's the right issue because, now that substantial health care reform has been achieved, perhaps this nation's greatest remaining travesty is that more than 10 million people live among us in a shadow world of fear and hardship. The vast majority of illegal immigrants stay out of trouble and work hard to support their families, yet most endure poverty, hostility and constant anxiety about being torn from their loved ones and deported.

Tens of thousands of lawsuits against Maryland debtors over unpaid bills are being tossed out of court because the law firm pursuing the debt-collection cases has abruptly shut down. The move gives a temporary reprieve to Marylanders in default on a variety of bills, particularly credit card payments, and burdens the already strained District Court system, which now has to sort through the legal morass left behind. It is unclear whether the creditors will refile the lawsuits seeking payment.

The parent companies of Bay Bank and Carrollton Bank said Monday that they planned to merge in a deal worth nearly $25 million in cash and stock. Jefferson Bancorp Inc., the Lutherville-based owner of Bay Bank, will pay $15.4 million to Carrollton Bancorp shareholders. It will also repay $9.1 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding to the U.S. Treasury. Jefferson Bancorp formed Bay Bank after buying the assets and liabilities of Bay National Bank, which failed two years ago and was taken over by regulators.

Con artist Rodney Getlan did not just take people's money - his actions caused them to lose their homes. That he stole the sanctuary of a roof and four walls may have led to Getlan's getting a much longer prison term. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts sentenced Getlan to 35 years in prison this week, a sentence on par with punishment for some violent crimes. "Rodney got what he deserved," said Lauri Hartz, who attended the court proceeding as one of nearly 50 known victims of Getlan's scheme to divert mortgage payments to his own accounts.

A leader in foreclosure-prevention efforts in Maryland is moving to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation to oversee mortgage lenders, brokers, debt-management firms and check cashers. Anne Balcer Norton, who just stepped down as head of foreclosure prevention at the nonprofit St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center in Baltimore, starts in July as an assistant commissioner in the state's financial regulation office. Norton, an attorney, worked as general counsel for a mortgage lender before heading up St. Ambrose's foreclosure prevention team, the largest in the Baltimore area.

Maryland's Commissioner of Financial Regulation, along with regulators in other states, has agreed to cooperate with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on supervising providers of consumer financial products, Maryland officials announced Tuesday. As part of this memorandum of understanding, state regulators and the new federal consumer bureau agree to consult each other on the procedures and practices used when conducting compliance examinations on businesses such as banks, mortgage lenders and money transmitters.

Cecil Bancorp Inc. and its subsidiary, Cecil Bank, have reached an agreement with state and federal regulators to take steps to ensure financial soundness. The agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation sets up a timeline for the bank and its parent to come up with a series of written plans for maintaining sufficient capital, improving earnings, beefing up board oversight, and other steps. The bank also agreed not to extend further credit, without approval by the board, to borrowers whose loans were criticized by regulators last year.

State banking regulators closed two Maryland banks Friday, the first two bank failures in the state since 2010. The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation shut down the Bank of the Eastern Shore in Cambridge and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. The FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Eastern Shore to allow customers to access their deposits until May 25. The state financial commissioner also closed HarVest Bank of Maryland in Gaithersburg, whose deposits and other assets were acquired by Sonabank in McLean, Va. HarVest's four branches will reopen during normal business hours as Sonabank's branches.