Photo of Stephen Steinlight

Stephen Steinlight

Subscribe to Stephen Steinlight's Posts

Stephen Steinlight has nearly two decades of experience as a trial and appellate litigator in federal and state courts and arbitrations in an expansive range of complex business, commercial, corporate, real estate, banking, financial services, consumer finance, securities industry/broker-dealer, white-collar/regulatory, ERISA, and labor and employment matters.

Follow:Read more about Stephen SteinlightStephen's Linkedin Profile

We are pleased to share our annual review of regulatory and legal developments in the consumer financial services industry. With active federal and state legislatures, consumer financial services providers faced a challenging 2023. Courts across the country issued rulings that will have immediate and lasting impacts on the industry. Our team of more than 140 professionals has prepared this concise, yet thorough analysis of the most important issues and trends throughout our industry. We not only examined what happened in 2023, but also what to expect — and how to prepare — for the months ahead.

Mindful of the impending retirement of many millions of investors in the “baby boomer” generation, which hold a substantial amount of the world’s wealth, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) continues to heavily monitor its member firms supervision of their registered financial advisors who service vulnerable and elderly investor customers. For example, last month FINRA…

As any Wall Street litigator knows, in the securities industry, it is typical for brokerage firms to incentivize their employed financial advisers with significant upfront compensation at the beginning of a relationship or even at the beginning of each new financial year. These up-front payments are often structured as “forgivable loans” and memorialized in promissory…

Chris Willis, co-chair of the CFS Regulatory Practice, Announces the Publication of the 2022 CFS Year in Review and a Look Ahead

Troutman Pepper’s Consumer Financial Services Practice Group consists of more than 120 attorneys and professionals nationwide, who bring extensive experience in litigation, regulatory enforcement, and compliance. Our trial attorneys have litigated thousands of individual and class-action lawsuits involving cutting-edge issues across the country, and our regulatory and compliance attorneys have handled numerous 50-state investigations and nationwide compliance analyses.

We are pleased to share our annual review of regulatory and legal developments in the consumer financial services industry. Our team has prepared this organized and thorough analysis of the most important issues and trends throughout our industry. We not only examined what happened in 2022, but also what to expect — and how to prepare — for the months ahead.

2021 was a transformative year for the consumer financial services world. As we navigate an unprecedented volume of industry regulation, Troutman Pepper is uniquely positioned to help its clients find successful resolutions and stay ahead of the curve.

In this report, we share developments on auto finance, background screening, bankruptcy, consumer class actions, consumer…

The Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has made its arbitration statistics for the year 2021, through May 31, available on its website. Overall, FINRA experienced an intriguing 19% decline in the number of overall arbitrations commenced through May 31, 2021 versus May 31, 2020. In particular, customer/investor claims declined a modest 2%, while intra-industry arbitrations,…

While Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules do not require member firms and customers to enter into arbitration agreements or otherwise preclude parties from litigating disputes through the state and federal court systems, FINRA issued and published Regulatory Notice 21-16 (the “Notice”) on April 21, 2021 to emphasize the applicable FINRA Rules when member firms…

On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California finding that a FINRA registered investment banker’s statutory employment discrimination and civil rights claims were not subject to arbitration. In reversing, the Ninth Circuit held that the express…

On April 16, 2021, a bill was introduced in the Senate and House that would restrict securities industry broker-dealers and other FINRA registered firms from imposing mandatory arbitration for customer disputes or contractually limiting a customer’s ability to bring suit on a class or consolidated basis.

Named the “Investor Choice Act” (the “Bill”), the Bill…