Bankers are opposing any effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) to reduce or eliminate the late fee safe harbor, citing a potentially significant adverse impact on community banks and credit unions. In a letter dated January 20, the American Bankers Association (ABA), Credit Union National Association (CUNA), Independent Community Bankers of
In the largest redlining settlement in the department’s history, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that an agreement has been reached to resolve redlining allegations against a Los Angeles-based bank. Under the terms of the proposed consent order, the bank will pay more than $31 million to resolve the allegations that it engaged
On December 21, 2022, outgoing Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) introduced legislation entitled the Stablecoin TRUST Act of 2022 that would establish the first-ever federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. In the press release announcing the proposed legislation, Senator Toomey stated that he “put forward a regulatory model that won’t undermine competition by favoring entrenched incumbents
On Dec. 15, 2022, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) Task Force on Consumer Compliance adopted revised examination procedures for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation F.
The revised interagency procedures will apply to examinations conducted by FFIEC’s member regulators of their respective regulated institutions. FFIEC is composed
On January 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its 2022 Fall Rulemaking Agenda containing pre-rule, proposed rule, and final rules under consideration. The CFPB releases regulatory agendas twice a year in voluntary conjunction with a broader initiative led by the Office of Budget and Management to publish a Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory actions across the federal government. In the preamble to the Federal Register notice, the CFPB states that the information is current as of September 30, 2022 and identifies regulatory matters the CFPB “reasonably anticipates” having under consideration during the period from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023. The CFPB has not yet posted a blog or issued a press release about the agenda.
On January 3, The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the Agencies) issued a joint statement to banking organizations highlighting a number of risks associated with crypto-assets.
While the Agencies expressly state that “banking organizations are neither prohibited nor
Is an arbitration provision enforceable if it is added to a bank’s deposit account agreement four years after the account is opened and contains no meaningful opt-out clause? According to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the answer to that question is no. A copy of the court’s decision
On December 6, during the 2022 Interagency Fair Lending Webinar, David Evans, a senior fair lending specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), discussed some of the specific discrimination issues identified during FDIC examinations that were ultimately referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) as potential fair lending violations. One area highlighted in the
On November 14, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Senior Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy Grovetta Gardineer delivered keynote remarks at the 2022 CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium where she discussed the OCC’s commitment to “elevating fairness” and ongoing efforts to ensure its regulated institutions comply with the federal fair lending laws.
The Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program is on hold indefinitely after a Texas federal court issued its decision, finding the program to be unconstitutional. In Brown v. U.S. Department of Education, the Northern District of Texas held that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) does not