Board approves final rules revising disclosure requirements for mortgage loans under Regulation Z -  FR Board

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New Troubles For A Troubled Washington Mortgage Plan – Maurna Desmond – Obama is struggling to overhaul the Hope for Homeowners program. Investigations into its main lender won’t help. – Forbes

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1.  Geithner Bets U.S. Can Avoid Japan Trap on Banks – Rich Miller and Matthew Benjamin – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is betting that U.S. banks can do something their Japanese counterparts were unable to accomplish in that country’s “lost decade” of the 1990s: earn their way out of trouble  – Bloomberg 

2.  Bernanke Says U.S. Banks Must Test More to Identify Other Risks – By Scott Lanman and Steve Matthews – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said efforts by U.S. banks to raise capital are “encouraging” and called on firms to identify other risks through internal stress tests – Bloomberg 

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FDIC Growth: Taxpayers to hold bag… – Rolfe Winkler – The newest bank bailout facility is picking up steam, courtesy of Congress.  Yesterday the Senate passed legislation that would increase FDIC’s credit line on the U.S. Treasury from $30 billion to $500 billion.* – Option Armageddon

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1.  There’s Work to Be Done, but Congress Opts Out- by TYLER COWEN – THE longer the financial crisis runs, the more policy makers at the Treasury, the White House and the Federal Reserve are working around Congress rather than with it.  It’s not that anyone is behaving illegally or unconstitutionally, but rather that Congress seems to want to be circumvented and to delegate more power to the executive branch as well as to the Fed, at least temporarily. – NY Times

2.  Citigroup: TARP Loans Near $45 Billion Mark – (AP) — Citigroup Inc. is using its $45 billion in government capital to make nearly that much in new loans. – NY Times

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Is anyone minding the store at the Fed? – Posted by Prieur du Plessis – In the video clip below, Rep. Alan Grayson asks the Federal Reserve Inspector General, Elizabeth Coleman, about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Coleman responds that the Inspector General does not know and is not tracking where this money is.  You can’t make up stuff like this! - Click for Video 
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FHFA Reports Homeowner Assistance Increasing in February Foreclosure Prevention Report – FHFA.GOV 

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Nothing Will Satisfy Some People – Thomas Brown – From certain quarters, reaction to the stress test results is utterly predictable -  bankstocks.com