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James provides corporate and regulatory advice to our clients. He has substantial experience in the representation of public and private companies, including banks, neobanks, marketplace lenders, payments companies, crypto and DeFi companies, and other fintech and financial services providers in connection with formation, licensing, sponsorship and program agreements, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing transactions, joint ventures, and regulatory reporting and compliance.

On August 1, the two major national credit union trade associations — the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) — announced plans to merge and create a new organization called America’s Credit Unions. The goal of the merger would be to form a single credit union trade group “to serve credit unions more efficiently and effectively” through “one strong and united voice.”

On August 8, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) issued a press release providing additional information on its Novel Activities Supervision Program (Program) to monitor novel activities in the banks it oversees. Novel activities are defined to include: (1) technology-driven partnerships with non-banks to provide banking services to customers, and (2) activities involving crypto-assets and distributed ledger or “blockchain” technology. According to the Fed, “the Program will be risk-focused and complement existing supervisory processes, strengthening the oversight of novel activities conducted by supervised banking organizations.” The Fed will notify those banking organizations whose novel activities will be subject to examination in writing and will routinely monitor supervised banking organizations that are exploring novel activities.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partners Chris Willis and James Stevens for a very special announcement about two new great tools for the financial services industry: The Troutman Pepper Financial Services blog and the Troutman Pepper Financial Services app. The blog will provide analysis and commentary on financial services law, regulation, and business, spanning across all areas of law that impact financial services providers. The new app serves as a convenient location to access all of our content, including blogs, articles, podcasts, events, practice area descriptions, and directory of our financial services attorneys. Tune in to hear more about these exciting new ways to stay on top of insights across the entire financial services industry.

On April 26, both the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued separate advisories warning against the risks associated with overdraft fees, particularly those associated with “Authorize Positive, Settle Negative” (APSN) transactions.

In issuing its supervisory guidance, the FDIC emphasized:

  • Some banks assess overdraft fees

On April 26, the Texas Bankers Association and Rio Bank, McAllen, Texas filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB or Bureau) final rule under § 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Final Rule). As discussed here, § 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection and reporting requirements on small business creditors. The plaintiffs rely heavily on the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) v CFPB, finding the CFPB’s funding structure unconstitutional and, therefore, rules promulgated by the Bureau invalid. The plaintiffs also argue portions of the Final Rule violate various requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

On April 5, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released its Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights report, providing a high-level overview of consumer compliance issues identified by the agency during 2022 in its supervisory activities of state non–member banks and thrifts. The report did note that, “[o]verall, supervised institutions demonstrated effective management of their consumer compliance

As promised (and discussed here), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Final Rule). Section 1071 amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to impose significant data collection requirements on small business creditors. According to the press release announcing the Final Rule’s issuance, “[l]enders will collect and report information about the small business credit applications they receive, including geographic and demographic data, lending decisions, and the price of credit.”

On March 10, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed Silicon Valley Bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as its receiver. Silicon Valley Bank had 17 branches in California and Massachusetts. The FDIC transferred all deposits and assets of the former bank to a newly created, full-service FDIC-operated bridge bank

On February 23, The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the Agencies) issued a statement on the liquidity risks presented by funding provided to banks related to certain crypto activities and offering some effective

In a letter dated February 10, the American Bankers Association (ABA), Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), Credit Union National Association (CUNA), National Association of Federally‐Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), and The Clearing House (TCH) (collectively, the Associations) vigorously requested that the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) extend the effective date for the final rule amending Regulation II (Final