On April 8, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) officially notified Congress of a significant information security incident involving its email system. This notification, mandated by the Federal Information...more
4/11/2025
/ Banks ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Communications ,
Email ,
Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Information Technology ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vulnerability Assessments
On March 17, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it has granted conditional approval for SmartBiz Loans to transform the business model of CenTrust Bank, N.A., located in Northbrook, Illinois....more
On March 7, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a significant update regarding the involvement of national banks and federal savings associations in cryptocurrency activities. Interpretive Letter 1183...more
3/13/2025
/ Banks ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Interpretive Letters ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management
Artificial intelligence is like a “baseline” that banks will implement for back-end operations, customer-facing tools like chatbots and digital banking services, said James Stevens, a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke....more
The most recent regulatory cycle addressed many of the BaaS sector’s weak programs and bad actors through enforcement actions the past two years, said James Stevens, a partner at law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, and that puts...more
On January 8, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the claims brought by Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc. (BSJI) against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) and the Board...more
1/14/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Banks ,
Breach of Contract ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Depository Institutions ,
Due Process ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Financial Institutions ,
FRBNY ,
Judicial Authority ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Statutory Interpretation
In the latest episode of Payments Pros, hosts Carlin McCrory and Keith Barnett are joined by James Stevens to discuss recent enforcement actions in the banking as a service (BaaS) space. They delve into regulatory trends,...more
“Banks have to have the policies, the personnel and the procedures in place to be able to appropriately satisfy the regulatory obligations with respect to [that] due diligence,”...more
The Georgia agency approved the Credorax application, but card networks refused to work with that company, said James Stevens, co-leader of the financial services industry group at the law firm Troutman Pepper....more
This is the second of three articles focused on a key question: as bank-fintech partnerships continue to play a vital role in driving financial services, how does the industry make this system safer and better?...more
10/4/2024
/ Bankruptcy Code ,
Banks ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Risk Management
On September 17, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (Proposal) aimed at enhancing recordkeeping for bank deposits received from fintech and other third-party, non-bank...more
9/19/2024
/ Banks ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
New Rules ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Third-Party
This is the first of three articles focused on a key question: as bank-fintech partnerships continue to play a vital role in driving financial services, how does the industry make this system safer and better?...more
Regulators, Stevens said, calculate a de novo group’s capital requirement with a key principle in mind: an institution’s need to maintain about an 8% leverage ratio after three years of operations. That means that in addition...more
On July 30, 2024, the FDIC proposed substantive changes to the 2020 Brokered Deposit Rule (2020 Rule) that, if finalized, could meaningfully impact a wide group of bank and nonbank stakeholders who rely on the current rule’s...more
Last week, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the agencies) issued a joint statement highlighting...more
7/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Joint Statements ,
OCC ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Third-Party Relationships
On June 24, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced it is requesting comments on proposed amendments to its recovery planning guidelines. A recovery plan’s purpose is to provide a covered bank with a...more
There has been a great deal of press about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) vote to ban employee non-competition provisions and policies. While the FTC describes the rule as a comprehensive ban, it acknowledges that the...more
4/30/2024
/ Banks ,
Credit Unions ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On April 19, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill (HB) 2560 to regulate earned wage access (EWA) products and services. HB 2560 enacts the Earned Wage Access Services Act that requires EWA providers to be licensed by...more
4/26/2024
/ Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Earned Wage Access ,
Electronic Fund Transfer Act ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
New Legislation ,
Payday Loans ,
Popular ,
Wage and Hour
On March 29, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced two more consent orders containing provisions relating to banks’ third-party risk management programs with respect to banking as a service (BaaS)...more
Today, a divided Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Board of Directors issued a proposed Statement of Policy (SOP) on bank merger transactions that would create a combined bank with more than $100 billion in...more
3/22/2024
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Bank Merger Act ,
Banks ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Merger Agreements ,
Money Laundering ,
OCC ,
Policy Statement
On March 12, at the Institute of International Bankers Annual Washington Conference, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu discussed the importance of operational resilience in the banking sector and hinted that...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently announced a consent order with Tennessee-based Lineage Bank containing orders relating to the bank’s third-party risk management program and its financial technology...more
As discussed here, on October 24, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finally issued their long-awaited final rule modernizing how they...more
On January 29, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding its review of business combinations under the Bank Merger Act (BMA). Specifically, the OCC proposed: (i)...more
2/1/2024
/ Bank Merger Act ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Comment Period ,
CRA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
OCC ,
Policy Statement ,
Proposed Rules
On January 18, at an event hosted by Columbia University Law School, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu discussed liquidity risk at banks and described potential “targeted regulatory enhancements” that would...more