To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.
Federal Activities:
On January 22, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Trading and Markets Director Jamie Selway, speaking at the Security Traders Association of Chicago’s Mid‑Winter Meeting, outlined four key division priorities for the next three years under Chair Paul Atkins: building a regulatory framework for tokenized securities (including forthcoming rulemaking on financial responsibility, recordkeeping, custody, and market structure, and working with self-regulatory organizations to extend their operations to tokenized assets); deepening harmonization with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) so that dual regulation becomes “a source of strength,” particularly around digital assets, event contracts, and streamlined operational and capital requirements; supporting industry efforts to move U.S. equity markets toward 24/7 trading in a way that protects and educates investors; and “breaking and rebuilding” legacy rules by modernizing requirements such as the Consolidated Audit Trail and the NMS “Trade‑Through” Rule (Rule 611) to reduce costs, improve governance, and better reflect today’s markets, all while remaining ready to pivot if market shocks demand more immediate regulatory attention. For more information, click here.
On January 22, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, speaking at the Joint Compliance Outreach Program for Municipal Market Professionals, used Cleveland’s bond‑financed infrastructure as a backdrop to praise the municipal securities market while urging it to engage with emerging technologies such as tokenization, which she noted could enable smaller minimum investments and potentially improve secondary‑market liquidity, as seen in Quincy, MA’s 2024 tokenized muni offering. Acknowledging that tokenization is not inevitable in a retail‑heavy, legally complex municipal market, she invited market participants to proactively approach the SEC when legacy, “ink and paper” rules impede technological change, rather than waiting until innovations are at their doorstep. Peirce also criticized the SEC’s recent off‑channel communications enforcement sweep as an example of regulators failing to update recordkeeping rules to match how people actually communicate, arguing instead for collaborative, pragmatic modernization of those rules so they reflect real‑world practices across broker‑dealers, municipal advisors, investment advisers, and other registrants. For more information, click here.
On January 22, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved amendments to its Guidelines for Appeals of Material Supervisory Determinations that abolish the existing Supervision Appeals Review Committee and create a new, independent Office of Supervisory Appeals as the final level of review for banks challenging material supervisory findings. The standalone office will be structurally separate from the supervisory divisions that issue exam determinations and will be staffed by externally hired reviewing officials, with each appeals panel including at least one member with bank supervisory experience and at least one with industry experience. The FDIC will notify institutions when the new office becomes operational. For more information, click here.
On January 22, the FDIC board approved a final rule amending its official sign and advertising regulations to simplify how banks display the FDIC digital sign and nondeposit disclosures across digital channels (such as websites and mobile apps) and on ATMs and similar devices, revising and streamlining requirements first adopted in 2023. The rule targets signage to the specific screens and pages where it is most relevant to consumers and gives banks greater flexibility in the design of the FDIC official digital sign, with the changes taking effect 30 days after Federal Register publication and an April 1, 2027, compliance date. For more information, click here.
On January 21, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced its planned HECM Non‑Vacant Loan Sale 2026‑1, under which it intends to sell roughly 2,500 secretary‑held reverse mortgage loans (home equity conversion mortgages) secured by occupied single‑family properties, with an unpaid principal balance of about $730 million, where the borrowers and any spouses are deceased and no heirs have stepped forward. Scheduled for February 10, 2026, the competitive whole‑loan sale will transfer these due‑and‑payable first‑lien loans without Fair Housing Act insurance and with servicing released, as part of HUD’s effort to reduce risk to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and dispose of defaulted assets more efficiently. Eligible bidders must execute a confidentiality agreement and qualification statement to receive the bidder information package and participate, while certain parties, including debarred entities, prior servicers within a six‑month window, and HUD insiders are barred from bidding. For more information, click here.
On January 21, HUD issued a proposed rule and request for comments inviting public input on the methodology it published on November 19, 2025, for setting the § 108 Loan Guarantee Program fee — currently set at 0.58% of the guaranteed loan principal — to cover credit subsidy costs for Fiscal Year 2026 commitments, should HUD be required or authorized by statute to impose such a fee. The notice, which amends 24 CFR part 570 in concept, explains that HUD will collect the fee from § 108 borrowers to offset the government’s credit risk and explicitly seeks comments on the methodology used to determine that fee level, not on individual loans or projects. Because the underlying methodology has been publicly available since November, HUD has provided an abbreviated seven‑day comment period, with comments due by January 28. For more information, click here.
On January 21, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R‑AR) released updated legislative text for a digital commodities market structure bill that would grant the CFTC new authority to regulate digital commodities, noting that while he and Senator Cory Booker (D‑NJ) were unable to resolve all policy differences, the revised proposal reflects months of bipartisan work and stakeholder input to strengthen consumer protections. Boozman also announced that the committee will hold a business meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, to mark up the legislation, with the session to be livestreamed on the committee’s website and open to congressionally credentialed media. For more information, click here.
On January 21, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its 2025 Resolution Report outlining global progress in making bank, insurer, and financial market infrastructure resolution regimes operational and setting priorities for 2026, including further work on funding in resolution, cross‑border bail‑in execution, and cross‑sector information sharing. The report notes that most foundational resolution frameworks are now in place and highlights 2025 initiatives such as a practices paper on transfer tools, knowledge‑sharing on resolution funding, a new bail‑in execution task force, and draft guidance on which insurers should be subject to recovery and resolution planning. Looking ahead, the FSB plans a peer review of public sector backstop funding mechanisms, a practices paper on funding in resolution, and a strategic review of its crisis preparedness activities to ensure they reflect emerging vulnerabilities and structural changes in the financial system, alongside updated good practices for crisis management groups (CMGs) to strengthen coordination between home and host authorities outside formal CMGs. For more information, click here.
On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Stopping Wall Street from Competing with Main Street Homebuyers,” directing the federal government to curb the role of large institutional investors in the single‑family housing market and prioritize sales to individual owner‑occupants. The order instructs Treasury to define “large institutional investor” and “single‑family home,” and requires housing and asset‑holding agencies (including HUD, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency) to issue guidance within 60 days to, wherever possible, prevent federal programs and government‑sponsored enterprises from facilitating or disposing of single‑family properties to large investors when those homes could be purchased by families, while promoting first‑look and anti‑circumvention protections for individual buyers. It further calls on the Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission to review existing rules and transactions by such investors for speculative or anti‑competitive effects, enhance ownership transparency in federal housing programs, and develop legislation to codify the policy that Wall Street firms should not acquire single‑family homes that could otherwise be owned by American families. For more information, click here.
On January 20, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig announced the appointment of Michael Passalacqua and Cal Mitchell as senior advisors in his office, adding deep crypto-regulatory and legislative experience to his senior staff. Passalacqua, a former financial regulatory attorney with prior in-house experience at a crypto capital markets firm, has focused on crypto asset and blockchain issues, including obtaining industrywide no‑action relief for the use of state‑chartered trust companies as crypto custodians. Mitchell, previously a special advisor in the Treasury’s Office of Legislative Affairs overseeing confirmation of Trump’s nominees and earlier a personal aide and advisor to Senator Bill Hagerty, will bring Capitol Hill and executive branch legislative expertise to the chairman’s office. For more information, click here.
On January 19, the New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), announced that it is developing a tokenized securities platform — subject to regulatory approvals — that will support 24/7 trading, instant on‑chain settlement, dollar‑denominated and fractional orders, and stablecoin-based funding for U.S.-listed equities and ETFs. The new venue will use the NYSE’s Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based post‑trade systems and is designed to handle both tokenized shares fungible with traditional securities and natively issued digital tokens, with token holders retaining standard dividend and governance rights and access provided on a nondiscriminatory basis to qualified broker‑dealers. ICE described the initiative as a key pillar of its broader digital strategy, which also includes preparing its clearing infrastructure for 24/7 operations and working with banks on tokenized deposits to facilitate after‑hours funding and margin movements across jurisdictions, as it moves toward operating on‑chain market infrastructure for trading, settlement, custody, and capital formation. For more information, click here.
On January 14, the National Credit Union Administration issued its 2026 Supervisory Priorities letter to federally insured credit unions, outlining a more efficient, risk‑focused examination program that emphasizes balance sheet management (with particular attention to deteriorating loan performance, credit administration, concentrations, and allowance methodologies), sensitivity to market and liquidity risk in a still‑volatile interest rate environment, and the sufficiency of earnings and capital under stress. The agency highlighted operational risk around rapidly evolving payment systems and growing fraud threats, signaling continued scrutiny of governance, internal controls, vendor management, and cyber resilience, while also underscoring that Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML)/countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) compliance will remain a core focus as FinCEN and federal regulators implement the Anti‑Money Laundering Act of 2020. NCUA reaffirmed its “no regulation‑by‑enforcement” posture, its use of defined‑scope exams for smaller institutions and risk‑focused exams for others, and its commitment to tailoring oversight — including implementation of new laws such as the GENIUS Act — to each credit union’s size, complexity, and risk profile. For more information, click here.
On January 6, the Federal Communications Commission published a final rule amending 47 CFR parts 1 and 64 to strengthen the integrity and enforcement of its Robocall Mitigation Database, including new requirements that all CORES registrants update registration information within 10 business days of any change, that all robocall mitigation filers annually recertify (by March 1) the accuracy of their database submissions, and that providers pay a $100 application fee for initial and annual Robocall Mitigation Database filings. The rule establishes a $10,000 base forfeiture (assessed on a continuing‑violation basis until cured) for submitting false or inaccurate database information and a $1,000 base forfeiture for failing to update database entries within 10 business days, and it directs the Wireline Competition Bureau to create a dedicated reporting mechanism for deficient filings, issue additional guidance and best practices for filers, and, together with the Office of the Managing Director, implement a two‑factor authentication solution to secure access to the database. For more information, click here.
State Activities:
On January 22, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a cybersecurity threat alert warning regulated entities and individuals about an active email phishing campaign in which fraudsters impersonate DFS personnel to induce recipients to open files, provide credentials, or make payments, including via spoofed addresses such as “@myportal.dfs.ny.gov.cazepost.com.” DFS stressed that legitimate messages will only come from “@dfs.ny.gov” or “@public.govdelivery.com,” urged firms to independently verify any unexpected or urgent requests — especially those involving payments, attachments, or credential entry — through known DFS contacts rather than links or numbers in the suspicious email, and reminded regulated entities to maintain robust defensive measures, including regular staff training, simulated phishing exercises, and technical controls like email filtering and external‑sender alerts. For more information, click here.
On January 16, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) entered into a consent order with Evergreen ATM, LLC dba Getcoins, a Bitcoin ATM operator, after finding that the company repeatedly violated the state’s new Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL) and the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) by accepting more than $1,000 per customer per day at kiosks, charging fees above DFAL caps, failing to provide required pre‑transaction disclosures, omitting mandated spread and exchange information on receipts, and operating with deficient BSA/AML controls, all in a context where crypto kiosks are increasingly used to perpetrate scams — especially against older adults. Without admitting or denying the findings, Getcoins agreed to cease all digital financial asset business with California residents within 30 days unless and until it is licensed, to desist from further unlawful acts or practices under DFAL, the CCFPL, and applicable BSA/AML requirements, and to be subject to a $1 million administrative penalty that becomes immediately due if it fails to comply with the order, which is binding on its successors and may be enforced in superior court. For more information, click here.
On January 14, the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) issued a bulletin to insurers, banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, and other regulated financial services providers outlining expectations for the use of artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that any AI-supported decisions affecting consumers must comply with existing state and federal laws and prioritize consumer protection. Noting that AI can streamline financial products and services but also introduces risks such as inaccuracy, unfair discrimination, data vulnerability, and opaque decision-making, DIFS Director Anita Fox stressed that firms must manage these risks and ensure transparency and accountability when deploying AI systems. For more information, click here.
On January 13, the California DFPI entered a consent order with RockItCoin, LLC, a Chicago‑based operator of roughly 300 Bitcoin ATMs in California, after finding that the company violated DFAL by allowing individual customers to exceed the $1,000‑per‑day kiosk transaction limit and by charging fees above the statutory caps due to an erroneous fee‑calculation model, resulting in about $202,814 in overcharges, as well as violating related receipt requirements. Without admitting or denying liability, RockItCoin agreed to a desist and refrain order barring future violations of the DFAL’s transaction and fee limits, to pay full restitution of the $202,814.22 in overcharges to identified California consumers through a regulator‑approved notification and claims process, to pay a $75,000 administrative penalty, and to implement remedial controls and provide 60‑day periodic reports for up to one year demonstrating ongoing compliance, with the Commissioner reserving broad enforcement rights if the firm fails to comply. For more information, click here.
On January 5, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James and other city leaders, signed two executive orders to crack down on so-called “junk fees” and deceptive subscription “tricks and traps” that he says are quietly draining New Yorkers’ wallets in the midst of an affordability crisis. The measures create a citywide Junk Fee Task Force, led by the deputy mayor for Economic Justice and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), to target misleading or undisclosed fees across sectors and step up enforcement of existing law, while separately directing DCWP to monitor, investigate, and enforce against illegal subscription practices such as free trials that auto‑renew, add‑on charges after checkout, disguised recurring charges, and intentionally difficult cancellation processes. Together, the orders aim to increase price transparency, protect consumers and honest businesses, and coordinate city and state action to ensure New Yorkers know what they are paying before a single dollar leaves their account. For more information, click here.