On April 18, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released updated FAQs related to the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and Beneficial Ownership Information (“BOI”) Rule. The last round of updates occurred in...more
On April 17th, the CFPB issued a consent order to a for-profit training school alleging numerous violations of law related to its use if income share agreements (“ISAs”). According to the Bureau, BloomTech, Inc. (“BloomTech”)...more
4/29/2024
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Holder Rule ,
Income Share Agreements ,
Regulation Z ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
UDAAP ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
In February 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into consent orders with two banks who partner with fintechs to offer “banking as a service” (BaaS) related to safety and soundness concerns relating...more
4/12/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
Consent Order ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Money Laundering ,
Risk Management ,
Terrorist Financing ,
Third-Party ,
True Lender
In February 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into consent orders with two banks who partner with fintechs to offer “banking as a service” (BaaS) related to safety and soundness, compliance with...more
4/10/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
Consent Order ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Regulation E ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
True Lender
The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) has re-rated the U.S. as “largely compliant” with FATF’s Recommendation 24, which pertains to transparency related to beneficial ownership of legal persons. Specifically, FATF...more
On March 19th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion in CFPB v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust et al. (the “Trusts”). The issue before the Third Circuit was whether certain...more
On February 16, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding residential real estate. The final version of the NPRM published in the Federal Register is 47...more
2/23/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The South Dakota Division of Banking issued a Memorandum notifying all licensed money lenders and non-residential mortgage lenders of their Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) obligations under a 2020 Final...more
2/13/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Licensing Rules ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On February 6, 2024, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Chairman Todd M. Harper spoke at a Brookings Institution event to outline his regulatory agenda and supervisory priorities for 2024. His prepared remarks...more
Recently, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (“ICBC”) entered into two consent orders. The first consent order is with the New York State Department of Financial Services (the “NYDFS”) for alleged deficiencies...more
2/8/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Books & Records ,
BSA/AML ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Confidential Supervisory Information ,
Consent Order ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure to Comply ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Money Laundering ,
NYDFS ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular
Several financial services trade associations wrote to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra voicing their concerns with the Advisory Opinion regarding Section 1034(c) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The trade associations...more
This week, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued the much-anticipated final rule (“Final Rule”) under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) regarding access to beneficial ownership information (“BOI”)...more
12/22/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Money Laundering ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
YouTube
On November 22, 2023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), in close coordination with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Criminal Investigation (“CI”), issued an alert (“Alert”) regarding the COVID-19...more
11/29/2023
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Employee Retention ,
Employees ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
IRS ,
Online Banking ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Small Business ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Tax Credits
On October 13, 2023, the California Department of Financial Innovation (DFPI) published final regulations implementing the Student Loan Servicing Act (“SLSA”) and the Student Loans: Borrower Rights Law. The final regulations...more
10/30/2023
/ California ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Aid ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Higher Education Act ,
Income Share Agreements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Student Loan Servicers Regulation ,
Student Loans ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Tuition
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a flurry of publications relating to the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). They pertain, in part, to a proposed extension of the filing deadline for certain...more
10/2/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
On September 14, 2023, the CFPB released Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the Small Business Data Collection Rule (the “Rule”). These FAQs are in addition to the set published in June 2023, which are dated. ...more
The CFPB recently released a report regarding higher education tuition payment plans that discusses prevailing practices and highlights certain CFPB concerns regarding consumer impact. The CFPB’s report was based upon (a) a...more
9/29/2023
/ Colleges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Education ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Higher Education Act ,
Payment Plans ,
Post-Secondary Institutions ,
Public Information ,
Regulation Z ,
Student Loans ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Tuition
On September 14th, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted the plaintiff’s motion to preliminarily enjoin the CFPB from implementing the Small Business Lending Rule (Rule) promulgated under...more
9/25/2023
/ American Bankers Association ,
Beneficiaries ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Debt Collection ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Section 1071 ,
Small Business
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has published a Small Entity Compliance Guide (the “Guide”) for beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), as well as...more
On September 14th, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted the plaintiff’s motion to preliminarily enjoin the CFPB from implementing the Small Business Lending Rule (“Rule”) promulgated under...more
9/19/2023
/ CFPB v Community Financial Services Association of America ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Federal Funding ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Section 1071 ,
Small Business ,
Small Business Loans
On September 8, 2023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released an alert regarding a notorious virtual currency scam called “pig butchering,” because, unfortunately, it resembles the “fattening a hog before...more
Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) released two supervision and regulation letters regarding the agency’s program to supervise “novel” banking activities....more
8/30/2023
/ Banks ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FRB ,
Joint Statements ,
Liquidity ,
OCC ,
Supervisory Guidance
The CFPB’s final rule implementing Section 1071 requires financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection with credit applications made by small businesses, including women-, minority- or LGBTQI+-owned...more
Without much fanfare, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published in June its Spring 2023 Rulemaking Agenda, which provides proposed timelines for upcoming key rulemakings projected throughout the rest of...more
7/10/2023
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Final Rules ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
NPRM ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Whistleblower Awards
On March 30, 3023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis focusing on business email compromise (BEC) trends and patterns in the real estate sector (referred to as “RE BEC”). The...more