On Thursday, March 28, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that Manuel “Manny” Alvarez, 38, has been appointed Commissioner of the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO). Alvarez is currently general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary at Affirm Inc., the point-of-sale lending platform founded by PayPal’s Max Levchin in 2012. Alvarez’s appointment requires California
Kraninger Expected to be Confirmed Today
We expect the U.S. Senate to confirm, as soon as this afternoon, President Trump’s nominee to lead the CFPB as its Director, Kathy Kraninger. A positive, though razor-thin and highly contested, outcome for Kraninger appears inevitable based on the Senate’s vote just a few days ago, strictly along party lines, to invoke “cloture” on the
CFPB Signals Potential for Fair Lending Rulemaking
In its recently published Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced that it is considering future rulemaking activity regarding the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) – specifically, “concerning the disparate impact doctrine in light of recent Supreme Court case law and the Congressional disapproval of a prior
State Regulators Sue to Stop OCC Fintech Charter
Update: On July 23, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) filed its appellate brief asking the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the lower court’s decision to block the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”)’s special purpose national bank charter (“fintech charter”). Please see our July 28 post for more
Feds Love Fintech: Treasury Promises Fintech Charter and a New Approach to Regulation
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued its “Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation” Report, the fourth in a series of reports outlining the Trump administration’s financial regulatory agenda. In the report, Treasury presents a new approach to regulation designed to promote “critical” innovation in fintech. The report outlines four broad areas of
CFPB Announces a New “Office of Innovation”
Earlier this week, Acting Director Mulvaney announced the creation of a new “Office of Financial Innovation,” and appointed Paul Watkins, an official who led the Arizona Attorney General’s fintech initiatives, to lead the Office. The new Office, which will now do the work formerly done under the Bureau’s Project Catalyst, “will focus on creating policies
Democrats Decry Kraninger at Hearing, but Republicans Appear Supportive
Thursday’s Senate confirmation hearing for Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), produced a number of testy exchanges with Democrats but no obvious obstacles to the Senate confirming her ultimately. Kraninger, now an Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), would if confirmed replace the Bureau’s
No Changes to CFPB This Year
In a statement on Thursday, April 26, a key House Republican on CFPB issues effectively admitted that despite his own efforts and those of the Trump Administration including Acting CFPB Director, Mick Mulvaney, Congress will almost certainly make no changes to the structure of the CFPB this year. As a result, there will probably be
Senate Votes to Strike Down Key CFPB Bulletin on Lending Discrimination in the Indirect Auto Market
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted almost entirely along party lines to invalidate, under the Congressional Review Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) (in)famous 2013 Bulletin on lending discrimination in the indirect auto market via discretionary mark-ups and dealer compensation policies. The 2013 Bulletin, construing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its implementing rule,
Full D.C. Circuit Court, Reversing Decision Below, Holds that CFPB’s Independent Structure is Constitutional; also Reinstates Important RESPA Rulings
In a long-awaited constitutional decision regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today in PHH v. CFPB reversed a prior ruling by a three-judge panel that the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured. As we previously reported, that prior panel’s prior decision — stayed since its issuance in October