To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.
Federal Activities:
On May 31, Bloomberg Law reported that European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said the best way to address the financial stability and monetary policy risks posed by dollar‑pegged stablecoins is to ensure that public money remains the anchor of the system, chiefly through a digital euro for retail use and tokenized central bank money for wholesale markets. Speaking in Seoul, Schnabel warned that stablecoins — even as they benefit from underlying technology and are buoyed by President Donald Trump’s efforts to mainstream crypto — could heighten run risk, weaken interest‑rate transmission, and entrench dollar dominance, prompting the need for agile adaptations in regulation, monetary policy implementation, and payment infrastructure. Against a backdrop of internal European debate, including Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel’s openness to euro‑stablecoins and ECB President Christine Lagarde’s skepticism, Schnabel questioned whether stablecoins will ultimately secure a lasting role in the financial system or be displaced by alternatives such as tokenized deposits. For more information, click here.
On May 29, the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Innovation Hub reported on Project Aperta, an experimental initiative that designed and tested a “network of networks” interoperability layer using APIs to link domestic open finance systems in the UK, UAE, Brazil, Hong Kong SAR, and India, with SME banking and trade finance as initial use cases. Led by the BIS Hong Kong Centre with central banks, regulators, international organizations, and academia, and tested with commercial banks and fintechs, the prototype demonstrates that secure cross-border data portability is technically feasible within the existing banking ecosystem and can serve as a regulatory testbed for legal, governance, and technical adjustments. The report provides architectural blueprints, trust and identity designs, and reference code as shared goods for central banks and network operators, and suggests that small clusters of advanced jurisdictions could pilot real-world deployments to improve payment efficiency, support financial stability, and inform the development of scalable cross-border digital financial infrastructure. For more information, click here.
On May 29, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a policy statement on the listing of perpetual contracts, alongside an order permitting a designated contract market to list a bitcoin-referenced perpetual as a futures contract, and indicated that perpetuals tied to other asset classes should be submitted for case-by-case review under Commission Regulation 40.3 rather than self-certified under Regulation 40.2, given their reliance on funding-rate mechanisms and the resulting market structure and manipulation risks. For more information, click here.
Also on May 29, CFTC staff in the Divisions of Clearing and Risk, Market Oversight, and Market Participants issued an advisory on extending trading, clearing, and settlement to a 24/7 basis, encouraging responsible innovation while reminding designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, derivatives clearing organizations, and futures commission merchants of their existing obligations under the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. The advisory outlines staff expectations around market integrity, risk management, system safeguards, margin and collateral practices, staffing, and customer disclosures, and stresses that the suitability of 24/7 models will vary by asset class. For example, crypto-referenced derivatives may be better aligned with continuous trading than agricultural contracts. Although the advisory does not create new legal requirements or confer no‑action relief, staff urge registrants contemplating 24/7 operations to engage with the CFTC in advance and to ensure that any move to continuous markets is supported by robust controls and compliance frameworks. For more information, click here.
On May 28, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, along with the Office of Personnel Management, finalized the Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Operations rule under the No Surprises Act, aimed at streamlining and stabilizing the federal IDR process for payers, providers, facilities, and air ambulance providers. The rule requires payers to use standardized claim adjustment and remittance codes and to include additional plan-identifying information and instructions to improve early communication and open negotiation, which must now be initiated and tracked through the Federal IDR portal with new notice and response requirements. It also refines batching rules (including a 50-line-item cap), imposes tighter timelines for certified IDR entities to assess eligibility and make determinations, resets the nonrefundable administrative fee to $15 per party per dispute, and establishes an IDR Registry to improve payer identification and enforcement, all phased in through staggered effective and applicability dates tied to future implementation guidance. For more information, click here.
On May 27, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), Rise Economy (formerly known as the California Reinvestment Coalition), and two fair lending compliance companies (BLDS, LLC, and SolasAI) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation B (Subpart A) final rule, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and was issued on April 22, 2026. The case, National Fair Housing Alliance et al. v. CFPB et al., is notable not only for challenging the CFPB’s significant rewrite of longstanding Reg B, but also because the NFHA and Rise Economy are the first consumer advocacy organizations to sue the CFPB over the final rule. The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief under the Administrative Procedure Act, asking the court to vacate the final rule as arbitrary and capricious, contrary to ECOA, procedurally defective, beyond the CFPB’s authority, and invalid because actions taken under Acting Director Russell Vought were beyond the scope of his authority. For more information, click here.
On May 27, the BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures reported that its 2025 monitoring survey on the G20 cross-border payments roadmap finds that progress is advancing “step by step,” with expanded access to payment systems, extended operating hours, and interoperability-by-design (especially through linked fast payment systems) forming the core foundation for better, cheaper, and more inclusive cross-border payments. The brief highlights that aligning with ISO 20022, adopting standardized API frameworks, scaling FPS links, and broadening access for non-banks and foreign banks can enhance competition and reduce frictions, while extending operating hours in key regions would widen the global settlement window. It underscores that many jurisdictions are revising payment laws and regulations and developing multi-stakeholder domestic action plans, supported by World Bank and International Monetary Fund technical assistance, but cautions that fully meeting the G20’s 2027 targets remains unlikely absent timely, coordinated reforms and sustained public-private investment. For more information, click here.
On May 22, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky entered an agreed order in The Monticello Banking Company v. CFPB staying the litigation challenging the CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rule until June 30, 2026, in light of the Bureau’s May 1, 2026, publication of a revised § 1071 rule (the 2026 Rule), which becomes effective on that same date. The order also preserves the parties’ ability to move, for good cause, to terminate the stay earlier or seek other appropriate relief. For more information, click here.
On May 21, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a summary judgment order in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Doxo, Inc., holding that Doxo is liable as a matter of law under the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) for its doxoPLUS negative‑option subscription practices, but leaving all other issues for trial. The court granted the FTC’s motion on Counts IV and V, finding that Doxo failed to clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms and price of doxoPLUS before obtaining consumers’ billing information and therefore did not obtain “express informed consent,” while denying both the FTC’s and Doxo’s motions on the FTC Act deception counts (Counts I and II) due to factual disputes over whether Doxo’s bill‑pay marketing and fee disclosures were misleading. The court also deferred ruling on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act claim (Count III), on individual liability for Doxo executives Steve Shivers and Roger Parks, and on remedies, and ordered the parties to mediate by June 30, 2026, with a joint status report due July 7, 2026. For more information, click here.
On May 19, the CFTC announced a staff advisory setting out the Division of Enforcement’s new, consolidated cooperation policy, which supersedes all prior advisories and explains how the division will evaluate self-reporting, cooperation, remediation, and restitution or disgorgement. The advisory provides, absent aggravating circumstances, a potential path to declinations where respondents voluntarily self-report, fully cooperate, remediate appropriately and promptly, and make full restitution and/or disgorgement, and it also specifies the levels of cooperation credit available when declinations are not warranted. Chairman Michael S. Selig and Enforcement Director David I. Miller emphasized that the policy is intended to incentivize prompt compliance, simplify and clarify how cooperation credit is awarded, promote fair and transparent enforcement practices, and strengthen the agency’s ability to combat fraud, manipulation, insider trading, and other market abuses. For more information, click here.
State Activities:
On May 26, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed HB315 and companion bill SB335 into law, barring residential landlords from refusing to rent to prospective tenants who use income-based housing subsidies based on income level, credit score or lack of score, or adverse pre-subsidy credit history, while still permitting commercially reasonable, nondiscriminatory reliance on landlord references and documented lease violations, utility nonpayment, nuisance, or property damage. Violations are deemed “discriminatory housing practices” enforceable by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. The law also requires landlords owning six or more units to offer tenants an opt-in service to report positive rental payment history to at least one consumer reporting agency, establishes detailed timing and notice rules for opt-in/opt-out, caps related fees at the lesser of actual cost or $10 per month, and prohibits reporting the status of those fee payments to consumer reporting agencies. For more information, click here.
On May 26, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed A10008C into law, authorizing New York City to require repeat speed camera violators to install intelligent speed assistance (ISA) devices in their vehicles and prohibiting consumer reporting agencies from including late payments of ISA-related fees in consumer reports, thereby pairing a targeted traffic safety measure with protections against credit reporting consequences tied to nonpayment of those program costs. For more information, click here.
On May 21, Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against San Antonio-based CAM Solar Inc., alleging that the company violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by using fraudulent and deceptive tactics to market and sell residential solar panel systems, including misrepresenting energy-bill savings and tax-credit eligibility, installing defective or nonfunctioning systems, performing improper installations, failing to respond to service requests, and charging undisclosed warranty and maintenance fees while customers remained obligated on financing for systems that did not work as promised. The suit, which follows an April 2026 investigation triggered by more than 100 consumer complaints, including reports of panels detaching from roofs and causing property damage, seeks to halt CAM Solar’s unlawful practices, obtain restitution for affected Texans, and impose civil penalties, and Paxton signaled that additional solar companies remain under active investigation. For more information, click here.
On May 20, Missouri AG Catherine Hanaway announced a lawsuit against GPD Holdings LLC, which operates as CoinFlip, alleging that the “world’s largest” crypto ATM network knowingly facilitates fraud and profits from it through convoluted, poorly disclosed, and excessive fees on nonrefundable, hard‑to‑trace cryptocurrency kiosk transactions. The suit, which follows a December 2025 statewide investigation and data showing hundreds of Missouri cases involving crypto ATMs and rapidly rising national crypto‑ATM fraud losses (particularly harming seniors), seeks a declaration that CoinFlip’s practices violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, an injunction barring it from operating in Missouri, civil penalties of up to roughly $1.8 million, and restitution for affected consumers, while the AG’s office continues broader enforcement efforts targeting crypto‑kiosk scams. For more information, click here.
On May 14, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed HF 3709 into law, authorizing state-chartered banks and credit unions to provide virtual-currency custody services (such as safekeeping and administration of customers’ or members’ crypto assets and private keys) in custodial or nonfiduciary capacities, subject to safety-and-soundness standards and written policies on risk management, cybersecurity, business continuity, and compliance. The law requires institutions to give 60 days’ advance notice to the commissioner before commencing virtual-currency custody, to legally and operationally segregate customer virtual currency from the institution’s own assets, and permits the use of qualified third-party service providers or subcustodians so long as the institution retains oversight and ensures compliance. It clarifies that these provisions do not authorize otherwise prohibited activities or change the legal characterization of virtual currency under state or federal law, and takes effect August 1, 2026, for virtual-currency custody services commenced on or after that date. For more information, click here.