On August 19, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued cease and desist letters to five cryptocurrency companies, demanding they refrain from making allegedly false and misleading statements about deposit insurance.
“Based upon evidence collected by the FDIC, each of these companies made false representations — including on their websites and social media accounts —
On August 15, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) issued final guidelines, outlining the tiered approach it will use when evaluating the growing requests from fintech firms and cryptocurrency companies for access to master accounts. The guidelines make clear that while requests from institutions with federal deposit insurance will be subject to a streamlined review, institutions
Please join Consumer Financial Services Partner Chris Willis and his guests and colleagues James Stevens and Carlin McCrory as they discuss the consumer protection and safety and soundness sides of credit union regulation. The discussion includes topics on the National Credit Union Administration’s 2022 consumer protection priorities, loan participations, the 2023 CECL implementation, and the regulatory impact of a recession on consumer loan portfolios held by credit unions.
In a keynote address at the Consumer Federation of America’s 2022 Consumer Assembly, CFPB Deputy Director Zixta Martinez squarely took aim at “rent-a-bank schemes” in some of the first (if not the first) such comments by a senior CFPB official. Historically, the CFPB has confined itself to “true lender” litigation against participants in high-rate
On April 7, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a letter, requiring all FDIC-supervised institutions that intend to engage in, or that are currently engaged in, crypto-related activities to notify its FDIC Regional Director. The FDIC also encouraged institutions to notify their state regulator. The FDIC provided an initial noncomprehensive list of activities
Several recent events highlight the expanding effort by the federal government to address the growing digital currency marketplace and the government’s role in it.
According to recent reporting, the Biden administration is preparing an executive order that will outline a comprehensive strategy for cryptocurrencies and ask federal agencies to assess the potential risks and
On January 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced its request for the public to share its input on “exploitative junk fees charged by banks and financial companies” to form its rulemaking and guidance agenda, along with its enforcement priorities. The CFPB’s press release included a link to its “Request for Information
On January 10, the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule, amending the Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (Safeguards Rule) under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), became effective. We wrote about the final rule when it first published in October 2021 (see here). As a practical matter, the amendments will likely require many financial institutions to
Will 2022 be the year of comprehensive digital asset legislation in the U.S.?
In 2021, Congress waded into the digital asset policy waters through its inclusion of expanded cryptocurrency and digital asset rules as part of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR 3584), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden
On January 18, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) conditionally approved an application by Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) to acquire Golden Pacific Bank, National Association, so long as the new bank does “not engage in any crypto-asset activities or services.”
SoFi’s application allows for the creation of SoFi Bank, National Association (SoFi