On April 19, 2021, the CFPB issued an interim final rule (“rule”) aimed at preventing illegal evictions. This measure is intended to support an eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), which prevents landlords from evicting tenants for failing to pay rent when the tenant is unable to afford full payments and would likely be driven into homelessness or a shared living setting by the eviction. The rule applies to debt collectors—as defined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”)—who are collecting debts for landlords. Under the rule’s terms, such collectors must disclose the existence of the CDC moratorium and may not misrepresent tenants’ eligibility for protection under the moratorium.
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CFPB Releases FDCPA Report to Congress Covering Debt Collection Activities in the Previous Year
On March 23, 2021, the CFPB submitted its report to Congress covering its administration of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) during 2020. Because the CFPB shares responsibility for enforcing the FDCPA with the FTC, the report also describes the FTC’s activities relating to debt collection. Notable developments include the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the debt collection industry and a description of the CFPB’s recently issued final debt collection rules.
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CFTC MRAC Meeting Features Discussion of Climate Risk
Posted in CFTC, Regulatory Agencies
The Market Risk Advisory Committee (“MRAC”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) met last week to discuss reports from its subcommittees on the following issues: Climate-Related Market Risk, CCP Risk and Governance, Market Structure, and Interest Rate Benchmark Reform. The meeting also featured a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion in the derivatives and related financial markets. The discussion on Climate-Related Market Risk featured discussion of the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee’s report: Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System (“Report”), which it previously released on September 9, 2020. Subcommittee Chair Robert Litterman addressed the MRAC to discuss the Report’s findings and issue a call to action on climate change.
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European Crowdfunding Regulation
Posted in Regulatory Compliance
A. Overview
On 20 October 2020, Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of 7 October 2020 on European crowdfunding service providers for business (“Crowdfunding Regulation”), which applies from 10 November 2021, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This is the first regulation of crowdfunding services on a European level. Up to now, crowdfunding has been governed under the various national laws of the Member States. A consequence of this is the fragmentation of applicable regulatory regimes which makes the provision of cross-border crowdfunding services almost impossible. The key aim of the Crowdfunding Regulation is to change this position by fostering cross-border crowdfunding services in the Union while at the same time to ensure a high level of investor protection. …
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Federal Agencies Jointly Release Responses to FAQs on SARs and Other AML Considerations
Posted in Enforcement, Regulatory Compliance
On January 19, 2021, the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, OCC, FinCEN, and NCUA (collectively, the “federal agencies”) issued answers to frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) regarding suspicious activity reports (“SARs”) and other anti-money laundering (“AML”) considerations for financial institutions subject to SAR requirements in response to recent recommendations from the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. The FAQs state that they are intended to assist financial institutions with their AML compliance obligations, and do not have the force of law or create any new supervisory expectations. …
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Federal Agencies Release Final Rule Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance
Posted in Rulemakings
On January 19, 2021, several major federal financial regulators finalized rules clarifying the legal status of supervisory guidance. As we described in a client alert late last year, a number of federal financial regulatory agencies—the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“Bureau”)—had been considering proposed rules that would largely codify the 2018 Interagency Statement Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance (which we previously covered in this blog post). …
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FDIC Adopts Revised Guidelines for Appeals of Material Supervisory Determinations
On January 19, 2021, the FDIC’s Board of Directors approved revised Guidelines for Appeals of Material Supervisory Determinations (the “Guidelines”), which are applicable to insured depository institutions (“IDIs”) the FDIC supervises as well as other IDIs for which the FDIC makes material supervisory determinations. The FDIC stated that the amendments are intended to: (1) improve the independence of appeals decisions via the implementation of an independent, standalone office—the Office of Supervisory Appeals (the “Office”)—that will replace the existing Supervision Appeals Review Committee (the “SARC”); and (2) clarify the procedures and timeframes applicable to appeals, including those relating to formal enforcement actions.
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CFTC Update: Leadership and Outlook
On January 21, 2021, CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert stepped down as Chairman of the agency and, for the time being, stepped into a Commissioner role. The CFTC was very active during Chairman Tarbert’s tenure as it implemented his regulatory and enforcement priorities. In particular, the Division of Enforcement saw the highest volume of enforcement actions in the CFTC’s history. The CFTC also finalized a number of major regulatory developments in 2020, including its long-awaited rule imposing position limits for derivatives (see our blog post summarizing this final rule).
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New U.S. AML Legislation – Five Provisions for Foreign Banks to Watch
Posted in Anti-Money Laundering
On January 1, 2021, the United States Congress enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AMLA”), as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (the “Act”). The AMLA includes extensive and fundamental reforms to anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws in the United States, including the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”).
In a previous client alert,…
BSA/AML Reform in the 2021 NDAA Becomes Law
On January 1, 2021, the Senate voted to override President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (the “NDAA” or “Act”), which includes over 200 pages of significant reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and other anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws that have been working their way through Congress for several years. The Senate’s…