Members of the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (“FinHub”) and experts in Fintech came together on May 31st for the SEC’s public forum focusing on distributed ledger technology and digital assets. As a whole, the panelists grappled with the challenge of regulating an emerging technology that does not fit neatly within
Fintech
New York’s Lawsuit Contesting the OCC’s Fintech Charter Survives First Legal Hurdle
By Alexander Gershen on
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…
State Regulators Sue to Stop OCC Fintech Charter
By Alexander Gershen on
Posted in Fintech
On October 25, 2018, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) renewed its lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) seeking to prevent the OCC from issuing its long awaited special-purpose bank charters to fintech companies. The OCC recently announced that it would begin accepting applications for the special-purpose charter, a…
California Passes Small Business Truth-in-Lending Law
By Anthony Le on
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…
Mulvaney’s First New Enforcement Action Continues Focus on Asset-Advance Firms
By Anne L. Doherty, Joseph J. Reilly & mcguirewoods on
In the latest sign of regulatory scrutiny of asset-advance companies offering consumers what regulators believe are in fact regulated “credit” under federal law and “loans” under state law, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) filed its first new lawsuit under Acting Director Mulvaney last Thursday. The complaint, filed in the Central District of California,…
Feds Love Fintech: Treasury Promises Fintech Charter and a New Approach to Regulation
By Alexander Gershen on
Posted in Fintech
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”
By Joseph J. Reilly & mcguirewoods on
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…