For years, UK-based consumer finance and payments firms have viewed the U.S. regulatory landscape as complex, fragmented, and challenging when it comes to expansion. But 2025 may prove to be a turning point....more
State attorneys general (AGs) have long played a significant role in consumer protection enforcement, often acting as frontline regulators alongside federal agencies. For consumer financial services companies, an AG...more
Financial services companies may feel relief from the aggressive federal oversight and regulation that defined the past decade. However, regulatory risk has not disappeared—it has shifted. ...more
3/13/2025
/ Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
EFTA ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FDCPA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Regulators ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
As we move into 2025, anticipation in the financial services industry continues to build for a revitalized mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market. ...more
As political tides shift, so too does the regulatory outlook for consumer financial services. Among the key documents that could shape the direction of U.S. financial regulation is a January 2021 report by the CFPB Taskforce...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed an interpretive rule aimed at addressing what it views as ambiguities in the application of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and its implementing Regulation...more
1/23/2025
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Platforms ,
EFTA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Online Gaming ,
Online Marketplace ,
Payment Systems ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation E
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather insights on how companies offering financial products and services collect, use, and monetize consumer payment and personal...more
1/17/2025
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Monetization ,
Privacy Laws ,
Request For Information ,
Technology Sector
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule under Regulation AA to address the use of restrictive and coercive clauses in consumer financial contracts. This proposal seeks to prohibit terms in...more
1/17/2025
/ Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Contract Terms ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation A ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The payments industry continues to evolve in response to the demand for flexible, fast, and secure payment options. Innovations have included payment facilitation, push-to-card services, and real time payments, among others....more
1/17/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Data Privacy ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Merchants ,
Payment Processors ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
On September 18, the CFPB issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products. These FAQs follow the CFPB's release of the 2024 BNPL Interpretive Rule (Interpretive Rule), which...more
The FDIC has issued a proposed rule that would apply to practically all bank-fintech arrangements that use custodial deposit accounts to provide customers with transactional features (also called "FBO" accounts for short)....more
9/19/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Comment Period ,
Compliance ,
Deposit Accounts ,
Depository Institutions ,
FBOs ,
FDIC ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Proposed Rules ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
Becoming or owning an industrial loan company (or ILC)—the elusive "nonbank bank" option, as Congress coined the term in 1987— still has an allure for financial services providers that want to (1) lend on a national scale...more
The CFPB released its much-anticipated proposed update to the mortgage servicing rules last month that would make permanent many of the temporary servicing rules enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more
The FDIC recently proposed a rule that would substantially change the 2020 final rule on brokered deposits that largely liberalized the FDIC’s framework. The proposed rule would eliminate many of the changes from 2020 and...more
Recent releases from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) show that the mortgage industry is in the crosshairs of the CFPB's campaign against so-called junk fees. Earlier this year, the CFPB indicated its interest...more
5/6/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Loan Servicing ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgage Servicing Rules ,
Mortgages ,
Regulation X ,
Regulation Z ,
UDAAP
A U.S. District Court recently rejected arguments that banks and institutions with novel charters have a statutory right to obtain a Federal Reserve master account. Master accounts let institutions access key parts of the...more
Listen to Episode 7 of our podcast, the Ad Law Tool Kit Show. In this episode, partners Ellen Berge and Andrew Bigart talk to host Len Gordon about payment processing. Check out the episode....more
Listen to Episode 7 of our podcast, the Ad Law Tool Kit Show. In this episode, partners Ellen Berge and Andrew Bigart talk to host Len Gordon about payment processing. Check out the episode....more
As 2024 gets off the ground, federal regulators are continuing their focus on fair lending issues. In February, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released a statement on examination principles...more
3/6/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appraisal ,
Banking Examinations ,
Bias ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
Fair Lending ,
FFIEC ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lending ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Property Valuation ,
Racial Bias ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Valuation
One week after the CFPB published its proposed rule restricting overdraft fees, the CFPB proposed yet another rule prohibiting nonsufficient funds fees (NSF fees) on transactions like declined debit card purchases and...more
Consumer use of "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) products and programs has proliferated over the last few years. While federal oversight has not been extensive to date, new guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed a rule to define a market for general-use digital consumer payment applications. Larger participants in this market would be subject to CFPB supervision and...more
11/15/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Wallets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Merchants ,
Mobile Apps ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Nonbank Firms ,
p2p ,
Proposed Rules
Besides being a shock to the market, the 2023 bank failures caused many to ask whether the federal banking agencies had done enough to prevent them. Precisely what the agencies should have done, or should do moving forward,...more
9/13/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Silicon Valley ,
Supervision
Larger banking organizations directly affected by the U.S. federal banking agencies' recent proposed capital rule have been busy analyzing the substantial changes, increased costs, and other requirements and effects that have...more
The CFPB's latest regulatory agenda signals that it is considering rules to define larger participants in markets for consumer payments, to be published in July 2023. This action, if implemented, would represent a sea change...more
6/20/2023
/ Automotive Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Debt Collectors ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Market Participants ,
Money Services Business ,
Nonbank Firms ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Supervision ,
Technology Sector