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 California Proposes Regulations to Implement New Disclosure Requirements for Commercial Financing Recently, the California Department of Business Oversight (“CA DBO”) issued proposed regulations to implement SB 1235, a 2018 law that, in certain situations, requires consumer-like disclosures for certain commercial financing transactions. The law has a few notable exemptions, including depository institutions, financings … 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
FDIC Settles Payday Lending Lawsuit and Issues Summarizing Policy Statement On May 22, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) announced that it had resolved the litigation of Advance America et al. v. FDIC et al. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In that case, the plaintiffs alleged that the FDIC and … Continue Reading
CFPB Proposes Changes to Debt Collector Rules On May 7, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) detailed a plan to update the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The proposed rule would reduce the number of phone calls collectors can make to debtors, while providing clarity as to how collectors can use other communication methods, … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates OCC Seeks Comments on Proposed Innovation Pilot Program The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) is soliciting public comment on its proposed Innovation Pilot Program. Similar to state-level regulatory sandbox models, the proposed program would allow OCC-supervised financial institutions, including those working with third-party vendors, to apply to test … Continue Reading
FinTech Issues Discussed at SEC Speaks Conference At Practicing Law Institute’s annual SEC Speaks conference, SEC leadership and staff showcased the agency’s 2018 successes and outlined upcoming initiatives. Highlights in the cryptocurrency and FinTech industries included the SEC’s analytical framework for digital assets, published last week by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates New Rules for Prepaid Cards, Digital Wallets, and P2P Transfer Apps Become Effective As reported in this blog last year, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) created a final rule implementing the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (“Regulation E”) and the Truth in Lending Act (“Regulation Z”). Originally released in October … Continue Reading
Regulatory Fed Board Delays New Same Day ACH Processing Window Until March 2021 The effective date of the new same-day Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) processing window (which would expand the end-of-day deadline to originate same-day transactions by two hours to 4:45 p.m. ET (1:45 p.m. PT)) has been deferred by six months to March 19, … Continue Reading
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has published the first in a series of guidelines for what it colloquially refers to as “smart derivatives contracts” (the Guidelines).* A smart derivatives contract is a derivative that incorporates software code to automate aspects of the derivative transaction and operates on a distributed ledger, such as a … Continue Reading
U.S. Developments Regulatory Updates FinCEN Issues Advisory on FATF’s Updated Recommendations On October 31, FinCEN published an advisory on the international Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) updated list of jurisdictions with serious regulatory deficiencies in anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The advisory focused on North Korea (DPRK) and Iran, and FinCEN … Continue Reading
International Developments Policy Updates IMF and World Bank Launch Bali FinTech Agenda On October 11, 2018, the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) and the World Bank Group launched the Bali FinTech Agenda, “a set of 12 policy elements aimed at helping member countries to harness the benefits and opportunities of rapid advances in financial technology that … Continue Reading
