Financial Institution Regulation

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On Monday, July 8th, FINRA and the SEC took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement on broker-dealer custody of digital asset securities. In doing so, the Staffs of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and of FINRA’s Office of General Counsel made clear that the SEC and FINRA will continue…

On April 29, the New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS)—the state’s principal banking and insurance regulator—announced that it is creating a new Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement (CPFE) division. The new division, described by commentators as a state-level version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), or “mini CFPB,” will have responsibility…

On May 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) motion to dismiss a complaint brought against it by the Maria T. Vullo, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS).  The complaint had challenged the OCC’s…

The Supreme Court and the Third Circuit decided three cases in the last week relating to the interpretation and enforceability of arbitration agreements. We discuss them below.

Third Circuit Compels Arbitration of an E-Signed Enrollment Agreement

The Third Circuit compelled arbitration of an agreement signed electronically by a student taking online courses. In Dicent v. …

The CFPB is proposing revisions to its 2016 no-action letter (“NAL”) policy and is planning to establish “BCFP Product Sandbox,” a regulatory sandbox that would encourage financial institutions to explore innovative products. The revamped policy would address the shortcomings in the 2016 version and streamline the application submission and review process, thus providing banks with…

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…

A recent FDIC request for information (RFI) suggests the FDIC is interested in enabling banks to offer small, short-term loans to consumers. Over the coming weeks the FDIC will be taking comments on the matter. After analyzing the comments received, the FDIC may issue guidance or regulations encouraging banks to offer these products.

FDIC data…

This Post is a “Part II” to our recent blog post describing the CFPB’s current plans to consider new rules that may narrow lenders’ exposure to “disparate-impact” liability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), as well as other federal developments along the same lines, particularly with respect to auto lending. Today, we report on…

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…

On September 30, 2018, California enacted the nation’s first small business truth-in-lending law when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1235. The law aims to protect small businesses from predatory lending practices by requiring increased transparency of certain business-purpose loans marketed to small businesses.

SB 1235 draws comparisons to the federal Truth in…