Weekly Fintech Focus CA DBO cracks down on point-of-sale financing. Companies that offer deferred payment options at point-of-sale could be lenders in California. The White House issues the world’s first binding guidance on regulating AI. Agencies should take a light-touch approach and consider how regulations promote the growth of AI. State money transmission laws are … Continue Reading
FinCEN Director Discusses How FinCEN Uses BSA Data and the BSA Value Project The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Kenneth A. Blanco, delivered prepared remarks at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference this week. Mr. Blanco spoke on five key topics: (1) how FinCEN uses Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) … Continue Reading
CFPB Proposes to Expand Certain Remittance Transfer Safe Harbors To reduce compliance costs for certain banks, credit unions and other insured financial institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed amendments to Regulation E to increase the safe-harbor available to insured financial institutions that provide a limited amount of remittance transfers from being categorized as … Continue Reading
The Fed Chairman Comments on Potential for a US-backed Digital Currency Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, wrote to Congress this week discussing the merits of implementing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the U.S. The letter responds to a number of questions posed by lawmakers regarding the value that a digital currency … Continue Reading
California Prohibits Clinics from Using Deferred Interest Provisions California signed into law SB-639 that prohibits medical and veterinary clinics and their agents and employees from establishing open-end credits or loans that include deferred interest provisions in an effort to protect patients and pet owners from signing up for certain credit, including credit products that accrue … Continue Reading
OCC to Host Innovation Office Hours During Money20/20 On October 28, 2019, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) will hold Innovation Office Hours in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Venetian Hotel during the Money20/20 conference (October 27-30). During the Innovation Officer Hours, the OCC’s Office of Innovation staff meets one-on-one with fintech … Continue Reading
Increase to the Management Interlock Threshold Rule Approved The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) approved a change to the thresholds in the major assets prohibition for management interlocks stated in the Depository Institution … Continue Reading
CFPB and FTC to Host Credit Reporting Accuracy Workshop The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently announced that they will be hosting a public workshop on December 10, 2019 to discuss issues related to the accuracy of credit reports and background screening reports for employment and housing rental purposes. … Continue Reading
California Governor to Consider Capping Rate on Finance Lender Loans The California State Assembly passed Assembly Bill 539, the Fair Access to Credit Act (FACA), with a vote of 61 to 8. FACA prevents licensed finance lenders from charging more than 36% (plus the federal funds rate) on consumer loans between $2,500 and $10,000. Reports … Continue Reading
Domestic CSBS Suit Challenging OCC Fintech Charter Dismissed For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a suit brought by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (“CSBS”) seeking to block the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) from offering a national fintech banking charter. Judge Dabney Friedrich of the D.C. Circuit again … Continue Reading
CFPB fines company for allegedly deceiving customers The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a consent order against a Texas money transmitter who communicated to customers that it would not be responsible for “errors made by banks or payment agents, or for any other reasons out of our control.” The company, Maxitransfers Corporation, focuses its … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Federal Reserve to Build Real-Time Payments System After years of speculation, the Federal Reserve announced this week it will create a real-time payments system, which it expects to be live by 2023 or 2024. The system, the FedNow Service, was announced by Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard during a speech at the Federal … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments FinCEN and Others Issue Joint Statement on BSA/AML Examinations The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and several other federal banking regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, issued a joint statement on … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Developments House Task Force Looks to Allow Alternative Data for Credit Scoring A newly formed U.S. House of Representatives task force, the Financial Technology Task Force, held a hearing this week to discuss a proposed bill that would allow new types of data to appear on consumer credit reports, including items like … Continue Reading
On October 3, 2018, a group of federal bank regulators and FinCEN announced in a joint statement that banks and credit unions could collaborate and share resources to manage their Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and anti-money laundering (“AML”) obligations. A collaborative arrangement does not modify or abrogate any of the bank’s BSA/AML obligations, and the … Continue Reading
The SEC is targeting ICOs once again, but it is now adding more focus through its new Enforcement Division Cyber Unit. In its enforcement settlement with Munchee, Inc., the SEC looked past the utility of a “utility token” in its “securities” analysis and instead focused on aspects such as marketing and the existence of a … Continue Reading
On December 15, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) issued a proposed interpretation of the term “actual delivery” as used in the provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) that grants the CFTC explicit authority to oversee the marketplace for “retail commodity transactions.” This is the second blog posting in a … Continue Reading
Earlier today, LabCFTC released, “A Primer on Virtual Currencies,” which it describes as being the first of a series of publications “to help market participants and innovators navigate the FinTech landscape”. Click here to read the full blog post. … Continue Reading
