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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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Continue Reading CFTC Update: Leadership and Outlook

On December 18, 2020, the OCC released a new interpretation of the statutory standards and requirements for federal preemption of state consumer financial laws that were enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 1044 of Dodd-Frank, codified at 12 U.S.C. § 25b, contains both substantive and procedural preemption provisions.  The OCC’s Interpretive Letter…

On January 4, 2021, the OCC issued a proposed rule codifying standards governing a national bank’s or federal savings association’s investment in real estate used, or to be used, as bank premises.  Specifically, the proposed rule would revise 12 C.F.R. § 7.1024 in order to create a more transparent and consistent set of principles for evaluating the acquisition and use of  national bank and federal savings association premises.
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Continue Reading OCC Proposes Rule Codifying Standards for Investment in Bank Premises

There has been a flurry of activity at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) in recent weeks.  As we reported previously, the CFTC approved three final rules, including the much-anticipated position limits rule, at its October 15 open meeting, and announced significant organizational changes to its operating divisions on November 3.  This post highlights additional significant actions by the CFTC in October and November and previews what is next for the CFTC under a Biden Administration.
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Continue Reading CFTC News Roundup for October and November and a Look Ahead

On November 19, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a joint fact sheet clarifying how banks subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) should apply a risk-based approach to customer due diligence (“CDD”) requirements for charities and other non-profit organizations.
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Continue Reading Federal Banking Agencies and FinCEN Issue Joint Statement on Risk-Based Approach to Customer Due Diligence for Charities and Non-Profit Organizations

On November 2, 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a press release announcing organizational changes to several areas of the agency’s operating divisions. According to CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert, these changes are intended to better align the agency’s structure with its strategic objectives.
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Continue Reading CFTC Announces Organizational Changes to Agency Divisions

As we noted in a client alert late last week, the federal banking agencies released on August 13, 2020, a joint statement on enforcement of Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) requirements.  At the time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation made reference to a possible separate “Statement on Enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act” from FinCEN. …

During an open meeting on July 22, 2020, the CFTC Commissioners heard a staff presentation on three specific recommendations for changes to the margin requirements for uncleared swaps for swap dealers and major swap participants.  These changes would:

  • Align the timing and methodology for both the material swaps exposure calculations and the post phase‐in compliance periods with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions and other global regulations;
  • Codify relief related to minimum transfer amounts as addressed by CFTC staff letters 17‐12 and 19‐25; and
  • Codify an alternative method for calculating the initial margin that must be collected from the counterparty, in which small swap dealers may rely on the initial margin models of a larger swap dealer counterparty.

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Continue Reading CFTC To Consider Proposals for Refining Uncleared Margin Rules

At open meetings on Wednesday, July 22, and Thursday, July 23, the CFTC approved, by a 3-2 vote, two significant final rules implementing provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act.  The first rule imposes capital requirements on swap dealers (“SDs”) and major swap participants (“MSPs”) that are not subject to supervision by a banking regulator, as well as financial report requirements for all SDs and MSPs.  The second rule addresses the cross-border application of the SD and MSP registration thresholds and establishes a formal process for requesting comparability determinations for such requirements from the CFTC.  Each final rule is summarized below.…
Continue Reading CFTC Adopts Final Rules on Capital Requirements and Cross-Border Application of the Registration Thresholds for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants

Today, July 7, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) released final amendments to its small-dollar lending rule published in November 2017 (the “2017 Rule”), specifically repealing the mandatory underwriting provisions of the rule.  The CFPB did not rescind or alter the payments provisions of the 2017 Rule, and instead ratified those provisions and will move forward to implement those provisions.  We address each aspect of the final amendments below.
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Continue Reading CFPB Finalizes Amendments to Payday Lending Rule