One of the most important questions facing non-bank providers of payments services is whether they are subject to regulation under U.S. state money transmission laws. Though almost all U.S. states regulate money transmitters, there are a number of states that provide exemptions for entities that act as an agent of the payee. While a small… Read More
Tag Archives: Regulatory Developments
The 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act: California Scraps Ballot Initiative and Passes Sweeping Data Privacy Regulation
Posted in Privacy, Regulatory Developments, State RegulatorsWith the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (AB 375), the United States now has its first truly sweeping privacy regime. On Thursday, June 28, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law what is arguably the most expansive privacy legislation in U.S. history. The Act is the product of backroom wrangling… Read More
Are You a Money Transmitter in Vermont?
Posted in Electronic Payments, Regulatory Developments, State RegulatorsThe Banking Department of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation recently entered into a consent order with a money transmission licensing applicant. The consent order makes it clear that “Vermont does not exempt a payment processor or an agent of a payee from [money transmission] licensure.” Vermont’s position is at odds with the recent trend… Read More
California SB1-Plus? GDPR-Like? Considerations for Financial Institutions in Evaluating the California Consumer Privacy Act
Posted in Privacy, Regulatory DevelopmentsFinancial institutions in the United States are no strangers to privacy regulations, particularly given the obligations imposed by the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“SB1”). More recently, financial institutions have been focused on whether and/or the extent to which the EU’s GDPR may apply to their U.S. operations. Many financial institutions,… Read More
Financial Regulatory Reform Legislation Proceeds through Congress
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsOn May 22, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” The bill was passed on a bipartisan basis with a vote of 258-159. The bill was previously passed by the U.S. Senate on March 14, 2018. Now that identical legislation has passed both houses… Read More
South Carolina’s Money Transmission Law Comes into Effect
Posted in Regulatory Developments, State RegulatorsYesterday, the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General issued a press release announcing that it has created a Money Services Division within the AG’s office and that, effective May 14, the Division is accepting applications for licensure under South Carolina’s money transmission law. This law, officially known as the South Carolina Anti-Money Laundering Act,… Read More
Senate Passes Financial Regulatory Reform Bill
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsOn March 14, 2018, the U.S. Senate passed S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” If enacted into law, S. 2155 would provide modest regulatory relief to regional and community banks, among other things. The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support through a vote of 67 to 31. In this… Read More
SEC Breaks Silence on Certain Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsOn March 7, 2018, the staff of the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets of the SEC issued a public statement regarding exchanges and other secondary trading platforms that list and/or facilitate the trading of coins and tokens online. The statement emphasizes that platforms offering the trading of digital assets that are securities, including… Read More
OCIE Announces Its 2018 Examination Priorities
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsThe SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) has published its 2018 examination priorities. Not surprisingly, it will continue to focus on the protection of retail investors and ensuring that registrants are appropriately disclosing or resolving conflicts of interest. In addition, OCIE will pay particular attention to developments in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). OCIE… Read More
2018: Business As (Un)usual – European Financial & Regulatory Developments into 2018
Posted in Regulatory Developments2017 in the UK and the rest of Europe seems to have been primarily a year devoted to implementation – both of political decisions already made and of legislation that had already been enacted. On the political front, Brexit continued to dominate many conversations around EU financial services. Theories circulated that EU decisions on various… Read More
CFPB Amends Prepaid Accounts Rule and Delays its Effective Date
Posted in CFPB, Credit Cards, Regulatory DevelopmentsOn January 25, 2018, the CFPB finalized amendments to its final Prepaid Accounts Rule, which was published in November 2016. The Bureau stated that the 2018 Amendments finalize revisions proposed in June 2017 “generally as proposed, with certain modifications.” The 2018 Amendments address some of the issues raised by industry and delay the effective date… Read More
Are You a Money Transmitter in Connecticut? In Hawaii?
Posted in Electronic Payments, Regulatory Developments, State RegulatorsOne of the defining aspects of the payments revolution of the past few years—at least from a regulatory perspective—has been the question of whether a particular payments service is subject to regulation as money transmission. A number of states have determined that under certain conditions, state money transmission licensing laws do not apply to services provided… Read More
Financing Fintech: ILC Charters
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsAn ILC, or industrial loan company, is a form of bank that can be chartered in Utah, Nevada, and a few other states. ILCs are insured by the FDIC and have most traditional banking powers, but they cannot hold corporate checking accounts. Significantly, an ILC is not a bank under the Bank Holding Company Act,… Read More
Treasury Report, Part II: Regulation of the Capital Markets
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsThe U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury Department” or “Treasury”) issued its second report (of four reports), titled “A Financial System that Creates Economic Opportunities, Capital Markets” (the “Report”). The Report was issued in response to Presidential Order 137772 setting forth the Core Principles that should guide regulation of the U.S. financial system. The Report… Read More
CFPB Releases Final Payday Lending Rule
Posted in CFPB, Payday Lending, Regulatory DevelopmentsOn October 5, 2017, the CFPB released its final rule for short-term loans. The nearly 1,700 page rule appears to follow the proposed short-term lending rule with several notable changes. Most notably, the CFPB did not finalize rules relating to underwriting requirements for long-term loans that do not have balloon payments. Read our client alert.
OCC Acting Comptroller Woos Fintech Companies with Remarks on Online Lending
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsOn September 25, 2017, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika discussed online lending and innovation in his keynote remarks prepared for delivery to the Online Lending Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Consistent with his previous remarks, the Acting Comptroller expressed his support for a regulatory environment that fosters responsible innovation and touted the growth… Read More
Replacing Familiar Benchmarks: Preparations to Phase Out the IBORs
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsLong a mainstay of the financial world, the floating “IBOR” rates, based on the rates of actual or purported interbank offered loans, are now being swept slowly into the dustbin of history. The quantity, in both number and size, of existing financial products based on these floating rates is enormous, with the outstanding principal amount… Read More
OCC Seeks Public Comment on the Volcker Rule
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsSection 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act (the “Volcker Rule”) and its implementing regulations (the “Implementing Regulations”) generally prohibit banking entities from engaging in proprietary trading and from investing in, sponsoring, or having certain relationships with covered funds. On August 2, 2017, the OCC submitted to the Federal Register a notice requesting public comment on how… Read More
Entering the HMDA Homestretch: CFPB Proposes Temporary Increase in HELOC Reporting Threshold, Releases New and Updated Filing Resources
Posted in CFPB, Mortgage, Regulatory DevelopmentsAs we have previously reported, in October 2015, the CFPB issued a sweeping final rule (“2015 Final Rule”) to amend Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The bulk of the 2015 Final Rule will become effective on January 1, 2018. With the effective date drawing nearer, the CFPB has proposed an… Read More
EVENT: Core Principles for Financial Regulation
Posted in Events, Regulatory DevelopmentsTuesday, September 12, 2017 Registration: 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Seminar: 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Morrison & Foerster LLP 250 West 55th Street New York, NY 10019 Join us as presenters from Morrison & Foerster LLP and The Brattle Group share their views and predictions regarding: the Presidential Orders relating to deregulation; the Treasury Department’s initial report… Read More
Acting Comptroller Endorses Fintech Charters
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsIn July 19, 2017 remarks prepared for delivery to the Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C., Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika expressed his support for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s efforts to establish national bank charters for financial technology companies. In endorsing the OCC’s so-called fintech charter, he noted that the… Read More
CFPB Publishes Final Arbitration Rule in Federal Register
Posted in Arbitration, CFPB, Regulatory DevelopmentsA mere nine days after releasing its Final Rule regarding arbitration to the public, the CFPB has published the Final Rule in the Federal Register. This is significant because publication in the Federal Register triggers the countdown to the Final Rule’s effective date (60 days after publication) and ultimately its application to new agreements (180 days… Read More
The CFPB Issues Its Final Arbitration Rule
Posted in Arbitration, CFPB, Regulatory DevelopmentsEnding months of speculation and insider reading of tea leaves, on July 10, 2017, the CFPB issued a final rule regarding the use of arbitration agreements in specified consumer financial contracts (Final Rule). The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2017. As was substantively expected, the Final Rule: 1) bars… Read More
OCC Releases Semiannual Risk Perspective: Fintech is Risky?
Posted in Regulatory DevelopmentsOn July 7, 2017, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its Semiannual Risk Perspective report identifying the risks faced by national banks and federal savings associations in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2016. The Report, which is intended to highlight key risk issues facing the federal banking system, noted that strategic, credit, operational… Read More