On September 29, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1934 into law, marking a significant update to California’s Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL). In addition to extending the compliance deadline for digital financial asset businesses, providing them with additional time to meet regulatory requirements and implement necessary operational changes, this new legislation includes significant modifications to the DFAL.
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:
On August 16, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published its semiannual regulatory agenda in the Federal Register, detailing the agency’s upcoming regulatory actions and priorities. The agenda outlines the proposed, final, and long-term rulemaking activities across various divisions, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Highlights from the agenda, include:
Proposed Rule Stage:
By: Ethan G. Ostroff
On August 19, the U.S. Treasury Department officially withdrew a contentious proposal from 2020 that aimed to impose know-your-customer requirements on non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets.
On September 24, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a package of consumer protection laws, with three bills aimed directly at collection practices. These new laws introduce significant changes in the areas of commercial debt collection practices, medical debt reporting, and civil actions for money judgments.
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:
On September 19, USTelecom — The Broadband Association (USTelecom), a major telecommunications trade organization, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expressing its concerns about the proposed enhancements to anti-robocall regulations. USTelecom’s primary contention is that the proposed rules, which aim to extend the do-not-originate (DNO) requirement, could inadvertently block legitimate calls, including emergency communications. The association argues that the current industry practices already effectively block calls from invalid, unallocated, and unused numbers, as well as numbers on the DNO list managed by the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group (ITG).
On September 24, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) announced a significant development in its efforts to implement open banking rules in the United States. The Bureau has initiated a public comment process for the first application from an organization seeking recognition as an open banking standard-setter.
In Aley v. Lightfire Partners, LLC, a U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York certified aa Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action for all persons whose telephone numbers were on the National Do Not Call Registry (DNC) but who received more than one telemarketing call from the defendant based on alleged consent given to a third-party website.
On September 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) providing guidance on applying Regulation Z requirements to Pay-in-Four Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products accessed through digital user accounts (DUAs). These FAQs follow the Bureau’s interpretive rule issued in May of this year, subjecting BNPL transactions to provisions of Regulation Z applicable to “credit cards.”