Photo of Sam Boro

Sam Boro advises fintech companies, banks, merchants, and marketplaces in the development and launch of new payment products and services. He supports clients in negotiating agreements and partnerships, understanding regulatory compliance issues, and designing smooth user interfaces.

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • The UK published a report calling for the urgent regulation of BNPL products.
  • The OCC postponed publication of the Fair Access to Financial Services rule.
  • The Acting Director of the CFPB is putting a renewed emphasis on issues of racial equity with a push to enforce fair lending violations.
  • The new administration will take a fresh look at the recently finalized FHA disparate impact rule.
  • The Federal Reserve announced that its FedNow RTP service will be launched sooner than expected.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of February 5, 2021

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • A regulatory freeze imposed by the new administration puts controversial rulemakings on ice.
  • The CFPB finalizes its rule clarifying the role of supervisory guidance.
  • Federal banking regulators issue FAQs on SAR filing obligations.
  • The Federal Reserve continues to support the development of AI in financial services.
  • OCC Issues Ruling Permitting National Banks to Use Certain Blockchain Technologies
  • California issues proposed rules for sharing data on marijuana-related businesses to promote due diligence and KYC efforts.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of January 22, 2021

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • The California DFPI begins operating January 2021 and looks to regulate new industries.
  • The OCC finalizes its rule on fair access to financial services, prohibiting large banks from denying services to whole industries.
  • Federal banking regulators publish proposed rule to impose additional notification requirements for a broader range of computer-security incidents.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of January 15, 2021

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • FDIC issues an updated brokered deposit rule, creating new exceptions relevant to fintechs working with bank partners.
  • FDIC issues a final rule clarifying its expectations for ILC charter applications.
  • CFPB issues an advisory opinion on Special Purpose Credit Programs to clarify how creditors can offer these programs to disadvantaged groups.
  • CFPB grants access to its compliance assistance sandbox to an earned wage access company, which meets the CFPB’s recent guidance on such programs.
  • PayPal wins the first round in its efforts to throw out aspects of the CFPB’s prepaid rule, resulting in a court throwing out certain mandatory disclosures and the 30-day waiting period for digital wallets.
  • New York enacts second-in-nation law requiring disclosures for commercial purpose loans.
  • The CSBS goes to court again to stop the OCC from issuing a charter to a fintech company.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of January 8, 2021

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • House Financial Services Committee sets priorities it hopes the incoming Biden administration will enact.
  • First major bank prohibits use of its credit cards for buy-now-pay-later transactions.
  • CFPB issues another no action letter for unsecured, closed-end installment lending model with AI underwriting.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of December 11, 2020

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • FTC files suit against a mobile app that advertised high-interest deposit accounts and easy access to customer funds but failed to deliver.
  • OCC proposes rule to ensure fair access to financial services and to codify the reversal of policies imposed under Operation Choke Point.
  • CFPB issues an advisory opinion clarifying that certain earned wage access services are not credit under Regulation Z.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of December 4, 2020

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • FDIC issues a paper on operational resilience to compile insights from existing regulations, guidance, and best practices.
  • CFPB issues a no-action letter for a small-dollar loan product.
  • CFPB issues consent order to a bi-weekly payment program that deceptively represented its benefits and fees.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of November 13, 2020

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • The CFPB issues an ANPR to engage in a rulemaking process on consumer access to financial records under Section 1033 of Dodd-Frank.
  • NYDFS expects regulated financial institutions to assess climate change risks.
  • Federal banking regulators look to codify that supervisory guidance is not binding.
  • The OCC issues its “true lender” final rule.
  • The effective date of the recent HUD disparate impact rule is enjoined by district court.
  • Senate Democrats introduce a bill to prohibit discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for banks and other financial institutions.
  • Quarles discusses the FSB’s growing concern with nonbanks in light of their interconnectedness with the financial system and vulnerabilities manifested during the pandemic.
  • The FDIC finds a shrinking unbanked population and encourages further innovation in banking technologies to create a more inclusive banking system.
  • Digital bank, its API provider, and its licensed bank settles claims related to system service outage.
  • SoFi obtains conditional approval for its national bank charter.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of October 23 and October 30, 2020

Weekly Fintech Focus

  • California passes a new law to help cannabis businesses and their service providers access financial services.
  • NY DFS calls for designating certain social media companies as systemically important to impose cybersecurity regulations.
  • The European Central Bank issues a new report about moving forward with development of the digital euro.

Continue Reading Fintech Week in Review: Week of October 9 and October 16, 2020