Big banks may need Fed OK for dividends, buybacks

The Federal Reserve on Friday sought authority to make annual decisions on whether the country’s largest banks can pay dividends or repurchase stock. The Fed proposes to evaluate the plan of each institution with at least $50 billion in assets to make capital distributions.

The news comes as tensions between regulators and the industry are rising due to a mountain of new rules. J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon earlier this week directly confronted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, asking whether the cumulative impact of new regulation has been studied