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Salwa advises and represents financial institutions and retailers in a range of consumer finance-related litigation in state, federal, and bankruptcy matters.

Fintech lender Opportunity Financial (“OppFi”) and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”), California’s financial-services regulator, filed dueling claims as they battle over state efforts to enjoin the company’s branded loans, which exceed California’s 36% interest-rate cap. This is the latest effort by fintech lenders to cement the True Lender Rule against state opposition.
Continue Reading Opportunity Financial’s Lawsuit Against California’s Financial-Services Regulator Signals Continued Fight Over “True Lender” Principles

After years of litigation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”) special purpose national bank charter (“fintech charter”) survives to see another day.  On June 3, 2021, the Second Circuit reversed the district court’s decision denying the OCC’s motion to dismiss, delivering a blow to the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) and paving the way for the OCC to again accept applications for its fintech charter.
Continue Reading OCC’s Fintech Charter Survives After Reversal in the Second Circuit

On March 9, 2021, the Second Circuit heard oral arguments in connection with the New York Department of Financial Services’ (“DFS”) challenge to block the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”) special purpose national bank charter (“fintech charter”). The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York in September of 2018, shortly after the OCC made available its special purpose bank charter.

The fintech charter would allow certain non-depository fintech companies to operate as “special purpose national banks” under the National Bank Act (“NBA”), which is overseen by the OCC without the burden of state-by-state regulation and licensing. The OCC views deposit-taking as just one of the activities undertaken by banks in the “business of banking” under the NBA. However, critics, including the DFS, argue deposit-taking is essential to the “business of banking,” which should preclude non-depository fintech companies from obtaining national bank protections.Continue Reading Oral Arguments Held in Challenge to OCC’s Fintech Charter

New York, California and six other States filed a widely expected lawsuit on January 5 seeking to invalidate the “True Lender” Rule recently issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”).  As we previously reported, the OCC’s True Lender Rule — finalized in October and effective since December 29 —provides bright-line tests for determining, in the context of a lending partnership between a national bank (or federal thrift) and a third-party (often a FinTech or other non-bank firm), which entity actually “made” the loan, i.e., which entity was the “true lender.”
Continue Reading States Sue to Set Aside OCC’s True Lender Rule

On October 27, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its final rule setting the test for determining who the ‘true lender’ is in a loan transaction, including in the context of a lending partnership between a federally-chartered bank and a non-bank third party. The final rule adopts the two-pronged test set forth in the OCC’s proposed ‘true lender’ rule issued in July of this year – a bank is the ‘true lender’ if, as of the date of origination, the bank (1) is “named as the lender in the loan agreement,” or (2) “funds the loan.”  The rule further clarified that if one bank funds the loan but another bank is named as the lender in the loan agreement, the bank identified in the loan agreement will be considered the ‘true lender’ of the loan. That clarification is consistent with the fundamental rule of the Truth-in-Lending Act, which always makes the party on the loan agreement the “creditor” on that loan.
Continue Reading OCC Issues Final ‘True Lender’ Rule To Provide Clarity For Bank Lending Partnerships

On July 22, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (“OCC”) proposed a new rule in the federal register, concerning when a bank or savings association is a “true lender,” when the loan is sold or assigned to different entities. The comment period for the OCC’s proposed rule ended on September 3, 2020, with mixed results.
Continue Reading OCC’s Attempt at Clarifying “True Lender” Principle Met with Mixed Results

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”).

The DFS initially challenged the OCC’s fintech charter in

On May 29, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a long-awaited final rule to clarify and underscore the ‘valid when made’ principle in which the interest rates permissible before a bank transfers a loan continues to be permissible after the transfer to a non-bank.

Generally, under the National Bank Act

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