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 … Continue Reading
On 25 January, the UK Treasury launched a wide-ranging Consultation on how to make the UK a more attractive location to set up, manage and administer funds. The objective being to create a destination which will support a wider range of more efficient investments, better suited to investors’ needs. The consultation has a deadline for … Continue Reading
As a reminder, the UK Treasury (HMT) published its Consultation on the Second Phase of the Future Regulatory Framework Review (FRFR) in October 2020. The Consultation is open for input until 19 February 2021. The FRFR aims to set out how the UK’s financial services regulatory framework should change in light of the UK’s exit … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
On November 20, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued a proposed rule that would impose on large national banks and federal savings associations (collectively, “banks”) a requirement to provide “fair access” to the financial products and services those institutions offer. The proposal is intended to preclude the banks it covers from … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
On October 27, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued a final rule that determines when a national bank or Federal savings association (collectively, “banks”) makes a loan and therefore is the “true lender” in the context of a partnership between a bank and a third party. The rule provides that … Continue Reading
On October 23, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking that would amend the Bank Secrecy Act’s Recordkeeping Rule and Travel Rule regulations. Comments will be accepted for 30 days after Federal Register publication of the proposed rule on October 27, 2020. The … Continue Reading
At an open meeting on October 15, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or the “Commission”) voted to adopt three final rules. First, the Commission adopted by a 3–2 vote a final rule overhauling its regulatory framework governing speculative position limits on a large variety of commodities. Second, the Commission unanimously approved amendments to … Continue Reading
On September 30, 2020, the Federal Reserve released a proposal to update its capital planning requirements in a number of respects, including to integrate the capital plan rule with the Federal Reserve’s October 2019 final rules tailoring its enhanced prudential standards. The proposal would make the following notable changes: Replacement of Company-Run Stress Testing for … Continue Reading
On September 15, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) released an Outline of Proposals under Consideration and Alternatives Considered for the small business data collection rulemaking mandated by Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act and a High-Level Summary of the outline of proposals. The release signals that a Small Business Advisory Panel … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
On May 28, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved an interim final rule in order to grant an extension of the compliance schedule for uncleared swaps in response to the many operational challenges entities are facing in the wake of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. It also approved a proposed rule exempting certain … Continue Reading
On May 20, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) issued a final rule overhauling its regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (the “CRA”). The CRA, enacted in 1977, incentivizes banks to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The final rule makes the first … Continue Reading
On May 29, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) issued a final rule to clarify that the interest on a loan originated by a national bank (or a Federal savings association), if permissible when the loan was originated, continues to be permissible after the loan is sold, assigned, or otherwise … Continue Reading
On May 15, 2020, the federal banking agencies issued an interim final rule to permit depository institutions to exclude from their supplementary leverage ratio (“SLR”) denominators through March 31, 2021 the balance sheet value of U.S. Treasury securities and funds on deposit at a Federal Reserve Bank, subject to restrictions on capital distributions. The interim … Continue Reading
On May 6, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an order (“Order”) directing the registered equity exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) (together, the “Self-Regulatory Organizations” or “SROs”) to submit to the SEC a new National Market System (“NMS”) plan to govern the public dissemination of real-time, consolidated market data for NMS … Continue Reading
Today, May 5, 2020, the federal banking agencies released an interim final rule to neutralize the effect of participating in the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility (“PPPLF”) and Money Market Liquidity Facility (“MMLF”) on a banking organization’s Liquidity Coverage Ratio (“LCR”).… Continue Reading
On April 28, 19 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“Bureau”) protesting both its decision to temporarily suspend quarterly mortgage lending reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (“HMDA”) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to permanently reduce the number of entities that must provide certain types of reporting … Continue Reading
Yesterday, March 31, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Board”) announced a six-month delay in the effective date of its final rule implementing a revised control framework. Previously, in January, the Board unanimously approved a final rule establishing a comprehensive, simplified framework for determining when an investor company exhibits control … Continue Reading
Today, March 23, 2020, the Federal Reserve issued an interim final rule that revises the definition of “eligible retained income” for purposes of the total loss-absorbing capacity (“TLAC”) buffer requirements that apply to global systemically important banking organizations (“G-SIBs”). The rule amends the “eligible retained income” definition in the same manner as the federal banking … Continue Reading
On March 17, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposal”) that would codify the FDIC’s existing supervisory processes and policies that apply to industrial banks and industrial loan companies (collectively, “ILCs”) and their parent companies. The FDIC announced on the following day that the FDIC Board of … Continue Reading
