To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

Federal Activities:

On April 4, the International Monetary Fund warned that the rapid move to tokenized finance such as shifting stocks, bonds, cash, and other assets onto blockchain-based systems could accelerate financial crises beyond regulators’ capacity to respond, even as it reduces costs and settlement delays. The IMF cautioned that instant, 24/7 settlement and the growing use of privately issued stablecoins as settlement assets could remove existing buffers, speed up stress events, and heighten run and margin-call risks, particularly given that central bank emergency facilities are designed for business-hour crises. The report highlighted ongoing tokenization initiatives by major market players and outlined three possible paths for tokenized finance: one anchored by central bank digital currencies, a fragmented system of incompatible national platforms, or a market dominated by private stablecoins with weaker public backstops. The IMF urged policymakers to act proactively — by, for example, anchoring settlement in “safe” money and clarifying the legal status of tokenized assets — arguing that there is a limited window to shape the architecture and risk allocation of the emerging tokenized financial system. For more information, click here.

On April 3, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Stephen D. Andrews and M. Jordan Minot have been appointed as deputy general counsel for regulation and litigation, respectively. Chairman Michael S. Selig and General Counsel Tyler Badgley emphasized their roles in supporting the CFTC’s pro-growth agenda and defending its regulatory authority through robust rulemaking and litigation. Andrews, a Yale Law School graduate who clerked on the Ninth Circuit and the Eastern District of New York and most recently served as general counsel to Senator Josh Hawley, will lead the Regulatory Branch of the General Counsel’s Office. Minot, a University of Virginia School of Law graduate who clerked for then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the Seventh Circuit and served as an assistant solicitor general and senior assistant attorney general in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, will lead the Litigation, Enforcement, and Adjudication Branch. For more information, click here.

On April 3, a Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar analyzed the rapid growth of online prediction markets and the extent to which existing insider trading laws apply to event contracts, explaining how such markets function, how they may fall within the Commodity Exchange Act’s (CEA) “swap” and “option” definitions, and how traditional insider trading frameworks under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Rule 10b-5, CFTC Rule 180.1, and various Title 18 fraud statutes might reach trading based on material nonpublic information. The Sidebar reviewed a February 2026 CFTC advisory highlighting potential Rule 180.1 violations on a CFTC-registered exchange and emphasizing exchanges’ surveillance and enforcement duties, then explored unresolved issues for Congress, including the contested status of certain event contracts (such as sports markets) under the CEA, the interaction between CFTC rules and stricter exchange-level insider-trading policies, prosecutorial interest in criminally charging insider trading on prediction markets, and a suite of pending bills in the 119th Congress that would restrict or prohibit trading in particular event contracts and/or bar covered public officials from profiting on prediction markets using confidential government information. For more information, click here.

On April 3, a Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar analyzed new SEC guidance — issued March 17, 2026, and joined by the CFTC — on how federal securities law applies to crypto-assets and related activities, explaining that the guidance (which supersedes the SEC’s 2019 staff guidance) introduces a five-part taxonomy (digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities), clarifies that certain non-security crypto-assets can nonetheless be “subject to” an investment contract (and thus securities regulation) until they later “separate from” that contract when purchasers can no longer reasonably expect essential managerial efforts from the issuer, and addresses when protocol mining, protocol staking, wrapping of non-security crypto-assets, and airdrops fall outside the securities regime. The Sidebar notes that the SEC rejects the “absolute separation theory” under which most secondary-market crypto trading would lie beyond securities laws, shifts the analytical focus away from “decentralization” toward issuers’ representations and promises, and situates the guidance against the backdrop of pending market-structure legislation such as H.R. 3633 and a Senate Banking Committee draft that would narrow the SEC’s role over secondary crypto markets, expand CFTC authority, and partially codify an absolute separation approach for specified assets. For more information, click here.

On April 2, the Tenth Circuit granted rehearing en banc in National Association of Industrial Bankers v. Weiser, vacating its November 10, 2025, panel decision that had allowed Colorado to apply its Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC) interest-rate caps to loans made by out-of-state, state-chartered banks to Colorado borrowers. The court’s prior judgment is vacated, issuance of the mandate is stayed, and the case is reopened for en banc consideration. The court specifically directs the parties to submit supplemental briefs addressing a series of questions focused on the meaning of DIDMCA § 525’s phrase “loans made in such State” and on the preemption framework. The en banc court asks whether “loans made in such State” refers to an executed loan and encompasses loans in which either the lender or the borrower is located in the opt-out state, as the panel held, and how the reference in § 521 to “the State … where the bank is located” should inform the interpretation of § 525. The court further asks how DIDMCA’s enactment history and regulatory guidance bear on the meaning of “loans made in such State,” whether that phrase is ambiguous, and whether a presumption against preemption applies in this case. The order sets a schedule for supplemental opening, response, and reply briefs and expressly encourages additional amicus participation. For more information, click here.

On April 2, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the agenda and panelists for its April 16 roundtable on options market structure, to be held at SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C., open to the public and webcast live, with later recording available on the SEC’s website. The program will feature opening remarks from Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda and Division of Trading and Markets Director Jamie Selway, a data presentation from the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research, and three panels: one on how current options market structure affects competition among liquidity providers in quote-driven markets; a second on the customer experience with listed options; and a third on the opportunities and challenges arising from the growth of listed options, including issues the Commission and market participants should address going forward. Panelists include representatives from major exchanges, trading firms, broker-dealers, industry associations, and academia, and the event will also include remarks from SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins, with further details and comment submission procedures available on the SEC’s roundtable event page. For more information, click here.

On April 1, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to implement the broad-based principles set out in the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act for determining when a state-level regulatory regime for “state qualified payment stablecoin issuers” is “substantially similar” to the federal regulatory framework. That determination is the gateway for state-chartered, nonbank stablecoin issuers with up to $10 billion in outstanding stablecoins to operate primarily under state oversight rather than as federally supervised “permitted payment stablecoin issuers.” Treasury clarifies that “substantial similarity” extends beyond § 4(a) to other provisions as well, including transition to federal oversight (§ 4(d)), applications and licensing (§ 5), supervision and enforcement (§ 6), custody (§ 10), and insolvency (§ 11). For example, a state regime that materially weakened custody safeguards or limited the state regulator’s examination and enforcement tools compared with § 6 would not be substantially similar. At the same time, Treasury makes clear that states may diverge on procedural and formal matters, such as data formats for reports or internal timelines, so long as those deviations do not change substantive standards or impede the operation of federal law. Comments will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. For more information, click here.

On March 31, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced a final rule rescinding its recovery planning guidelines for large OCC‑supervised banks with at least $100 billion in assets, with Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould explaining that prescriptive recovery planning requirements add little value to banks’ ability to manage stress and instead distract from maintaining safe and sound operations. As part of the agency’s broader effort to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, the OCC emphasized that it still expects these institutions to maintain strong risk management and contingency funding plans, clarified that the rule does not apply to or affect banks with less than $100 billion in average total consolidated assets, and noted that community banks are unaffected. The rescission will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. For more information, click here.

On March 31, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moved the en banc D.C. Circuit to modify its existing stay pending appeal to allow the Bureau to implement a newly adopted, superseding reduction-in-force (RIF) plan that, consistent with a presidential directive to streamline operations, downsizes the agency while keeping it open and adequately staffed to meet its statutory obligations, thereby undermining the district court’s premise that CFPB would “shut down” absent injunctive relief. The motion further requests a limited 45‑day remand for the district court to reconsider the preliminary injunction in light of intervening developments, including Congress’s enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which significantly lowers the CFPB’s funding cap and makes some RIF necessary by late 2026, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which confirms that injunctive relief must be tailored to the plaintiffs’ own irreparable injuries. The motion further requests that the appeal be held in abeyance while the district court evaluates whether the injunction should be dissolved or narrowed under these materially changed circumstances. For more information, click here.

On March 31, the CFPB announced that the 2025 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Modified Loan Application Register (LAR) data for approximately 4,768 filers are now available on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s HMDA Platform, providing loan-level information that has been modified to protect consumer privacy and is accessible online for each institution as well as in a single combined file covering all filers. This expanded electronic availability, implemented under the CFPB’s 2015 HMDA rule, replaces the prior system of requesting data from individual institutions and is intended to increase public access to mortgage lending information, with the CFPB’s Beginner’s Guide to Accessing and Using HMDA Data offered as a resource to help users understand, access, and analyze the data. For more information, click here.

On March 30, the CFPB notified an Oregon federal district court that the acting director, in order to comply with the preliminary injunction entered in NTEU v. Vought, prepared and submitted to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System a quarterly funding request in the amount of $75.8 million, while expressly stating in his transmittal letter to Chairman Jerome Powell that this figure reflects the amount required by the court order rather than his own judgment of what is “reasonably necessary” for the Bureau to perform its statutory functions, which he believes could be accomplished with a significantly smaller budget. For more information, click here.

On March 30, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) announced the launch of Phase 1 of its new, streamlined online charter system for new credit union applications, a phase focused on obtaining preliminary approval of a proposed credit union’s field of membership, with NCUA Chairman Kyle S. Hauptman emphasizing that simplifying and systematizing the chartering process and removing unnecessary requirements will ease burdens on organizers and support fair, accessible opportunities to form new credit unions. Funded by a $2 million allocation approved by the NCUA Board in December 2024, the system will continue to be developed, with additional phases to be released and a fully automated charter application processing system expected by 2027. For more information, click here.

On March 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in the consolidated appeals Forcht Bank, NA, et al. v. CFPB, et al., issued an order granting the plaintiffs-appellees’ motion to hold the case in abeyance for docket-management purposes while the CFPB undertakes new rulemaking related to the Personal Financial Data Rights Rule, thereby cancelling the March 9, 2026, briefing schedule and directing the plaintiffs to file a status report on the rulemaking every 60 days — beginning 60 days from the order — with each report to include the appellants’ positions on whether and how briefing should proceed. For more information, click here.

On March 30, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it had submitted to the Federal Register a NPRM to fully implement its whistleblower program by establishing a framework of incentives and protections to encourage individuals to report fraud-related violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and other laws critical to the U.S. financial system and national security. The proposal outlines secure procedures for submitting tips and award applications, setting eligibility standards and adjudication processes, authorizing awards of 10-30% of collected monetary penalties where whistleblower information leads to successful enforcement actions by Treasury or the Department of Justice, and providing protections for whistleblowers. FinCEN emphasized that, although the program is already authorized under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2022 and is currently accepting tips (including through a newly launched whistleblower portal), this regulation will fully implement those statutes, and members of the public are invited to submit comments within 60 days of the NPRM’s publication. For more information, click here.

On March 30, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Richard Blumenthal sent letters to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins raising grave concerns that the abrupt resignation of Enforcement Division Director Judge Margaret Ryan and a pattern of declining enforcement activity reflect preferential treatment for Trump’s financial allies and crypto partners. The letters cite reports that Ryan clashed with senior SEC leadership after seeking aggressive action in cases involving Trump-affiliated individuals and entities, note the SEC’s dismissal or softening of significant crypto fraud cases, and highlight the agency’s failure to release FY 2025 enforcement data despite repeated congressional requests. The senators further point to substantial staff reductions, especially within the Division of Enforcement, and historically low enforcement case numbers as undermining the SEC’s ability to protect investors and maintain market integrity. In addition, they emphasize the national security and consumer protection risks posed by crypto platforms such as Tron, which has allegedly facilitated large volumes of illicit finance while its founder strengthened financial ties to Trump-related ventures. The letters demand prompt release of FY 2025 enforcement statistics and request detailed explanations and extensive records regarding Ryan’s departure, internal deliberations over enforcement decisions, communications with Trump family members and associates, White House officials, and attorneys for certain crypto actors, as well as a list of instances in which Enforcement Division recommendations were overruled by SEC leadership. For more information, click here and here.

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

Federal Activities:

On March 30, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a landmark proposed rule that would “democratize” access to alternative investments in 401(k) plans by clarifying how plan fiduciaries may prudently add such options and by creating process-based safe harbors for selecting designated investment alternatives. The proposal, which implements President Trump’s executive order on expanding access to alternative assets, reaffirms ERISA’s focus on procedural prudence and directs fiduciaries to make objective, analytical determinations on factors such as performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, and complexity, while remaining neutral as to specific asset classes. Framed as a corrective to prior guidance viewed as discouraging alternative and digital assets, the rule is intended to lower litigation risk and regulatory uncertainty for fiduciaries, thereby expanding the range of investment choices available to more than 90 million Americans saving for retirement. For more information, click here.

On March 27, the European Central Bank (ECB) published Working Paper No. 3208, which uses hand‑collected data on four major decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to examine who actually governs “decentralized” finance and what that means for regulation. The authors find that governance token holdings are highly concentrated — with the top 100 addresses typically controlling more than 80% of supply and roughly half or more of tokens linked to the protocols themselves or to centralized and decentralized exchanges — and that this concentration is stable over time. They also show that governance is dominated by a small set of delegates wielding delegated votes, many of whom cannot be reliably identified from public blockchain data, making it difficult to link control over proposals and risk parameters to specific legal entities. The paper concludes that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) often fall short of meaningful decentralization and that, given pervasive concentration and pseudonymity, commonly suggested “regulatory anchor points” such as governance token holders, developers, or exchanges may be hard to use in practice without improved traceability and clearer, possibly bespoke, legal frameworks for DeFi governance. For more information, click here.

On March 26, the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence held a hearing to assess whether federal financial regulators are keeping pace with rapid innovation in areas like digital assets and artificial intelligence (AI), with members emphasizing the need for agencies to build expertise, adopt new supervisory technologies, and provide regulatory stability while avoiding policies that chill innovation. Majority members spotlighted their efforts to reverse what they characterized as the prior administration’s “anti‑crypto” posture, including the Federal Reserve’s Novel Activities Supervision Program, and stressed the importance of clear, durable rules for stablecoins and digital asset market structure. Regulators from the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) testified that banks and credit unions are already using AI and related tools for fraud detection, anti-money laundering (AML)/countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), underwriting, and customer service, and described agency efforts to support responsible adoption — such as developing “right‑sized” supervisory expectations, engaging with third‑party technology providers, and publishing AI resources — while maintaining safety, soundness, and compliance with existing law. For more information, click here.

On March 26, Coinbase announced it is powering a first-of-its-kind, Fannie Mae-backed “crypto‑backed” conforming mortgage product offered by Better, allowing borrowers to pledge Bitcoin or USDC in their Coinbase accounts as collateral for a separate down‑payment loan while obtaining a standard conforming mortgage on the home. Under the structure, borrowers effectively take out two loans at closing — a traditional Fannie Mae mortgage and a crypto‑secured loan funding the cash down payment — with both sharing the same interest rate and term and being serviced as a single combined monthly payment, while the pledged crypto remains in custody in Better’s Coinbase Prime account and is returned once the loan is repaid, with mortgage terms insulated from crypto price volatility. The product is pitched as a way for digital asset holders to access homeownership without liquidating long‑term positions (and potentially triggering capital gains), and Coinbase One members approved for either a crypto‑backed or traditional Better mortgage can receive closing-cost credits equal to 1% of the mortgage amount (capped at $10,000), with USDC pledgors able to continue earning rewards on their holdings to help offset servicing costs. For more information, click here.

On March 25, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) unanimously issued for public comment proposed interpretive guidance on designating nonbank financial companies, signaling a return to prioritizing an activities‑based approach while adding new safeguards tied to economic growth and economic security. The proposal would have FSOC focus first on risks arising from specific activities and practices across markets, resorting to firm‑specific designations only where those risks cannot be adequately addressed otherwise; require a cost‑benefit analysis that considers the likelihood of a firm’s material financial distress and permits designation only when expected benefits outweigh expected costs; and introduce a pre‑designation “off‑ramp” under which FSOC would identify remedial steps a firm or regulators could take to address identified systemic risks before a designation is finalized, thereby enhancing transparency, analytical rigor, and the link between systemic‑risk oversight and broader economic objectives. For more information, click here.

On March 25, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a full committee hearing titled “Tokenization and the Future of Securities: Modernizing Our Capital Markets” to examine how tokenization is being used in U.S. capital markets, whether current securities laws and regulations adequately govern these activities, and what gaps, ambiguities, or overlaps may pose risks to investors or impede innovation. Witnesses testified on the implications of tokenization for market integrity, investor protection, and capital formation, as well as on operational and legal issues arising from the use of blockchain-based records. The hearing considered two discussion drafts: the Modernizing Markets Through Tokenization Act of 2026, directing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to conduct a joint study on whether further guidance or rulemaking is needed for tokenized securities and derivatives, and the Capital Markets Technology Modernization Act of 2026, clarifying that key market intermediaries and exchanges may use blockchain records consistent with SEC rulemaking under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For more information, click here.

On March 25, NCUA proposed a deregulatory rule to eliminate its prescriptive limits on third‑party servicing of indirect vehicle loans, including the current caps that restrict a credit union’s purchases from any one servicer to 50% of net worth (rising to 100% after 30 months) and the associated waiver process for both federal and federally insured state‑chartered credit unions. The Board explained that these one‑size‑fits‑all concentration limits are unnecessarily burdensome and that individual credit union boards are better positioned to set policies appropriately scaled to their size, risk profile, and use of third‑party servicers, consistent with a principles‑based supervisory approach. If finalized, the NCUA would continue to oversee such activities through the examination process rather than hard numerical caps, and the agency expects the change to reduce administrative costs and compliance complexity without having a significant economic impact on small credit unions. Comments on the proposal are due by May 26, 2026. For more information, click here.

On March 24, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity announced it has opened a Fair Housing Act investigation into the Washington State Housing Finance Commission’s Covenant Homeownership Program, a zero‑interest secondary loan program for first-time homebuyers that offers down payment and closing cost assistance — and, for low-income borrowers, potential full forgiveness after five years of ownership — based in part on whether applicants have a parent or grandparent of specified racial or ethnic backgrounds. HUD indicated it believes the program’s race-based eligibility criteria, adopted following the Commission’s 2023 “Racial Equity Strategy Plan,” may unlawfully discriminate by excluding, among others, persons of European, Japanese, Arab, or Jewish ancestry, and Secretary Scott Turner stated that under the Trump administration, HUD will not tolerate racial or ethnic preferences that deny equal protection and will enforce the Fair Housing Act to ensure equal access to housing assistance. For more information, click here.

On March 24, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its 2025 Annual Report, in which Chair Andrew Bailey underscored both the resilience of the global financial system in the face of recent shocks and the need for the FSB to keep adapting amid rising geopolitical fragmentation and strains on multilateralism. The report highlights 2025 workstreams on long‑standing vulnerabilities such as sovereign debt and nonbank financial intermediation (NBFI) (including new work on NBFI leverage and the creation of a Nonbank Data Task Force), as well as elevated asset valuations, crypto‑asset and stablecoin risks, and operational fragilities. It reviews implementation of the FSB’s 2023 global regulatory framework for crypto-assets and stablecoins, finalization of a common format for cross‑border operational incident reporting, continued efforts to bolster resolution readiness, and the completion of key policy initiatives under the roadmap for enhancing cross‑border payments, with a renewed focus in the next phase on diagnosing the slowdown in G20 reform implementation and driving more effective, jurisdiction‑level follow‑through. For more information, click here.

On March 24, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig announced the creation of an Innovation Task Force to help craft clear “rules of the road” for U.S. innovators developing novel products and technologies in derivatives markets, with a particular focus on crypto assets and blockchain, AI and autonomous systems, and prediction markets and event contracts. Working alongside the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, the Task Force will drive the Commission’s innovation agenda, develop a coherent regulatory framework for these emerging areas, and coordinate with other federal agencies, including the SEC and its Crypto Task Force, to promote responsible innovation while keeping U.S. market participants competitive. For more information, click here.

On March 24, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins, speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, highlighted what he called a historic week for U.S. digital asset markets, emphasizing the Commission’s publication of a “token taxonomy” and updated Howey interpretation that draws clearer jurisdictional lines around when a crypto asset is a security. He explained that the new framework delineates five categories of digital assets — four of which are not securities — and outlines compliance pathways for entrepreneurs raising capital with crypto assets, with the aim of ending the “Securities and Everything Commission” era and refocusing the SEC on its statutory investor-protection mandate in securities transactions. Atkins cautioned, however, that the SEC’s interpretation is only a foundation, not a final resolution, and stressed that only Congress can fully “future‑proof” regulation through comprehensive market-structure legislation, while the SEC continues to clarify the proper bounds of its authority under existing law. For more information, click here.

On March 24, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone told the European Parliament’s ECON Committee that the Eurosystem is pressing ahead with technical preparations for a potential digital euro — while stressing it will only be issued once an EU legal framework is in place — to ensure a universally accessible, pan‑euro area retail complement to cash that strengthens monetary sovereignty and reduces payment fragmentation. He highlighted four workstreams: “inclusion and accessibility by design,” including a partnership with the ONCE Foundation and features like adaptive interfaces to serve people with disabilities and low digital literacy; an innovation agenda that uses the digital euro’s common infrastructure and standards to help European payment service providers (PSPs) and fintechs scale new services (such as conditional payments, e‑receipts, and offline use cases) across borders; integration into the broader payments ecosystem via co‑badging with domestic schemes and common European standards so that the digital euro acts as public “rails” on which private solutions can run rather than as a competitor; and a phased piloting program, with PSPs to be selected in 2026 for a 12‑month pilot starting in the second half of 2027, aimed at ensuring technical readiness for a possible launch around 2029, assuming timely adoption of the digital euro regulation. For more information, click here.

On March 23, Senators Adam Schiff (D‑CA) and John Curtis (R‑UT) introduced the bipartisan Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, which would bar any CFTC–registered entity from listing prediction contracts that resemble sports bets or casino-style games, effectively pushing such products back under state (and tribal) gambling regimes rather than federal derivatives regulation. Citing explosive growth in sports prediction markets — including hundreds of millions to billions in trading volume on events like March Madness and the Super Bowl — Schiff and Curtis argue these contracts are functionally indistinguishable from illegal sports betting in states like California and Utah, evade state and tribal consumer protections, generate no public revenue, and conflict with Congress’s original intent that the Commodity Exchange Act not permit gaming. The bill responds to what they describe as a sharp CFTC policy reversal and growing federal tolerance of these markets, and complements Schiff’s separate DEATH BETS Act targeting “death contracts” and other event contracts tied to terrorism, war, or individuals’ deaths. For more information, click here.

On March 23, the SEC and CFTC issued a joint final interpretive release clarifying how federal securities laws apply to crypto assets and certain crypto transactions, classifying crypto assets into five categories (digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities) and emphasizing that only “digital securities” and nonsecurity tokens offered under an investment contract are securities. The interpretation explains when a nonsecurity token becomes subject to, and can later separate from, an investment contract under Howey; concludes that specified forms of protocol mining and protocol staking in public proof‑of‑work and proof‑of‑stake networks, and related staking receipt tokens and “wrapped” tokens that are simple one‑for‑one receipts for nonsecurity assets, do not involve securities transactions; and provides that certain “airdrops” of nonsecurity tokens with no consideration from recipients likewise do not create investment contracts. The CFTC concurrently signaled it will treat qualifying nonsecurity tokens as commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act, and both agencies characterized the interpretation as a first step toward a more coherent, innovation‑supportive regulatory framework, while inviting public comment that could lead to further refinements. For more information, click here.

On March 20, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson issued a memorandum directing the creation of an internal Healthcare Task Force. The directive underscores that health care remains a top enforcement and policy priority for the FTC, reflecting the administration’s focus on a “more competitive, innovative, affordable, and higher quality healthcare system.” Ferguson’s memorandum highlights the outsized role of health care in the U.S. economy, approximately 18% of GDP, and the disconnect between that level of spending and many patients’ ongoing difficulty accessing affordable care. The memo links those challenges to consolidation and other forms of allegedly anticompetitive conduct across health care markets, as well as to regulations that may weaken incentives to lower costs or improve quality. The chairman emphasizes the particular impact on vulnerable populations, including rural communities, seniors, and veterans. The memo also stresses the FTC’s “dual mandate” to police both unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition. Against that backdrop, the Healthcare Task Force is designed to break down silos within the agency and between it and other agencies, leverage the FTC’s wide-ranging health care experience, and ensure that enforcement and advocacy efforts are aligned across the agency. For more information, click here.

On March 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a Paperwork Reduction Act notice seeking Office of Management and Budget reinstatement of its information collection for “Mortgage Acts and Practices — Advertising (Regulation N)” (OMB Control No. 3170-0009), which requires covered mortgage advertisers to retain certain records for 24 months to support enforcement against deceptive mortgage advertising. The notice estimates 483 private-sector respondents and 242 total annual burden hours, and invites public comment by April 20, 2026, on the necessity and practical utility of the collection, the accuracy of the burden estimates, ways to improve the quality and clarity of the information collected, and methods to reduce respondent burden, including through automation. For more information, click here.

On March 19, Senator Chris Coons (D‑DE), joined by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R‑AK), introduced S.4144, the Ending Scam Credit Repair Act (ESCRA Act), which would significantly tighten the Credit Repair Organizations Act by clarifying the definition of “credit repair organization” (narrowing the attorney exemption and ensuring entities can’t evade coverage), banning advance fees for promised credit improvement until results are documented on a consumer report at least 180 days later, and expressly prohibiting “jamming” practices involving repetitive, unsupported disputes to credit bureaus and furnishers. The bill would strengthen disclosures to consumers (including a plain-language warning that credit repair firms do nothing consumers cannot do themselves for free), require retention of and access to call recordings, mandate that consumers receive copies of all contracts and communications sent on their behalf, and make clear that organizations are covered even if they are law firms, unless a narrow bankruptcy/Consumer Credit Protection Act attorney exception applies. ESCRA would also require all credit repair organizations to hold a state license as of January 1, 2026; impose detailed identification and licensing requirements on disputes sent to furnishers; and enhance civil remedies by authorizing statutory damages of $500 per violation, in addition to existing relief. For more information, click here.

On March 19, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC jointly issued three proposed rules to “modernize” the regulatory capital framework for banking organizations of all sizes. The proposals operate on three fronts. For the largest, most internationally active banks (Category I and II), the agencies would replace overlapping regimes with a single “expanded risk‑based approach” that integrates credit, market, operational, and credit valuation adjustment (CVA) risk. For most other banks, the agencies would refine the standardized approach by recalibrating risk weights for core lending categories, e.g. residential mortgages, corporate exposures, and mortgage servicing assets, while preserving overall simplicity. Separately, the Federal Reserve would update the framework for setting the GSIB surcharge so that the additional capital required of the largest, most complex firms better reflects their systemic footprint and funding profile. The agencies aim to simplify how capital is calculated, better align requirements with underlying risk, and maintain the strength of the banking system, even as they project a modest decline in aggregate capital requirements compared to today’s levels. Comments on all three proposals are due by June 18, 2026. For more information, click here.

On March 19, the FDIC Board of Directors voted to rescind its 2009 Statement of Policy on Qualifications for Failed Bank Acquisitions and related 2010 Q&As, which had imposed additional conditions on private investors and nonbank entities seeking to acquire failed banks or assume their deposits — conditions the agency now views as an unnecessary deterrent to broader participation in resolution transactions. By eliminating these policy constraints (effective upon Federal Register publication), the FDIC aims to reduce regulatory barriers for nonbank bidders in the failed-bank process and thereby increase competitive bidding, with the goal of lowering the ultimate cost of bank failures to the Deposit Insurance Fund. For more information, click here.

On March 18, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac homeowner insurance requirements intended to lower premiums and expand insurability, particularly for condo projects and borrowers in rural or high-cost insurance markets. The revisions allow both single-family and condominium properties financed with conforming mortgages to use less expensive actual cash value (ACV) roof coverage while retaining full replacement cost coverage for the remainder of the structure, simplify the prior “maximum per-unit deductible” standard for condos, and rescind a 2024 clarification that FHFA now views as unnecessarily complex and cost-increasing. FHFA projects that by broadening acceptable coverage types and easing certain underwriting constraints, more condo buildings will qualify for agency-backed financing and more borrowers — especially first-time and rural buyers — will see lower total monthly housing costs without, in the agency’s view, materially weakening overall loss protection. For more information, click here.

On March 17, the FTC announced it is sending more than $10.9 million in refunds to 443,048 consumers harmed by a credit repair scheme operating under names including Financial Education Services, United Wealth Education, United Credit Education Services, and Youth Financial Literacy Foundation, which allegedly lured people with poor credit into paying for sham “easy fix” services and then pushed them into a pyramid scheme to recruit others. The distributions follow 2024 settlements requiring the company and its principals to halt their deceptive practices and surrender funds for consumer redress. For more information, click here.

On March 17, the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a final rule and technical amendment to its Private Transfer Fee Covenants (PTFC) regulation reinstating “grandfather” exceptions that were inadvertently removed in 2024, thereby clarifying that, effective nunc pro tunc to July 16, 2012, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks may continue to deal in mortgages (and related securities) on properties encumbered by private transfer fee covenants created before February 8, 2011, or created thereafter pursuant to pre‑February 8, 2011, agreements approved by a government body or entered into in settlement of litigation. The amendment, which FHFA adopted without additional notice and comment on good-cause grounds, is intended to protect stakeholders who relied on those transitional provisions and to avoid title uncertainty that could arise from their temporary omission, while preserving the 2024 rule’s separate exemption allowing the enterprises to retain certain shared equity loans with private transfer fees that predate July 1, 2023. For more information, click here.

State Activities:

On March 25, reports surfaced that New York Assembly Democrats are pushing a tiered excise tax on energy‑intensive crypto mining operations — facilities using at least 2.25 million kilowatt-hours annually, particularly proof‑of‑work miners — at rates between 2 and 5 cents per kilowatt-hour, with projected revenue of $95 million in 2027 and $380 million annually through 2030 to help fund a $2.6 billion utility‑bill rebate for residents. Supporters, led by Assemblymember Anna Kelles, argue crypto mining is a risky industry that drives up utility costs without commensurate job benefits, while industry groups and lobbyists warn the measure amounts to a de facto ban that unfairly singles out one type of high-load user, could violate the Commerce Clause, and would deter investment and jobs in upstate regions. The proposal appears only in the Assembly’s one-house budget so far; the Senate and Governor Hochul have not endorsed it, and negotiations ahead of the April 1 budget deadline will determine whether the tax advances. For more information, click here.

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities

To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week.

Federal Activities

State Activities