Sen. Elizabeth Warren scolds regulators for protecting banks

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts chided two financial regulators on Thursday, wondering why the men were protecting big banks rather than helping struggling families.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Warren questioned Daniel P. Stipano of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Richard Ashton of the Federal Reserve about the Independent Foreclosure Review. The investigation of foreclosure abuses ended in January with a $8.5 billion settlement.

She accused the two financial regulators of withholding data obtained from the investigation. Warren asked whether they planned to provide evidence of illegal activity to families who were suing banks over wrongful foreclosures.

Ashton responded that they had not made a decision about that.

"So I just want to make sure I get this straight," Warren replied. "Families get pennies on the dollar in the settlement for having been the victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks' activities. You now know individual cases where the banks violated the law and you're not going to tell the homeowners, or at least it's not clear if you’re going to do that?"

"People what to know that their regulators are watching out for the American public, not for the banks, and the only way that we can evaluate whether or not you're doing your job is if you make some of this information publicly available," she added.

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