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
James Stevens, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Financial Services Industry Group, was quoted in the March 5, 2025 Banking Dive article, “FDIC Withdraws Merger Policy, Brokered Deposits Proposal.”...more
On January 16, U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced H.R. 478, the “Promoting New Bank Formation Act,” which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services. This bill aims to support the establishment and...more
2/27/2025
/ Agribusiness ,
Agricultural Land ,
Capital Requirements ,
Community Banks ,
Equal Access to Credit ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rural Areas ,
Small Business
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
On January 20, Travis Hill became the Acting Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Following his remarks on FDIC policy issues on January 10 at the American Bankers Association, in his first statement...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 a previous post, we discussed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at enhancing recordkeeping for bank deposits received from fintech and other third-party, non-bank...more
11/20/2024
/ Bank Deposits ,
Comment Period ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Third-Party
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
Yesterday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced an extension of the comment period for its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) aimed at revising the 2020 Brokered Deposit Rule. To ensure that all...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
We previously posted on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at enhancing recordkeeping for bank deposits received from fintech and other third-party, non-bank companies....more
10/7/2024
/ Bank Deposits ,
Comment Period ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Nonbank Firms ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Third-Party
In a significant development since our last post, Fiserv’s application for a merchant acquirer limited purpose bank (MALPB) charter has been approved by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. This approval marks a...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
Stripe has options to provide liquidity to investors beyond an IPO, one of which is a stock buyback, said James Stevens, a partner at the law firm Troutman Pepper who works with fintech companies. But “that takes away money...more
Yesterday, both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized new guidelines regarding bank mergers. According to the agencies, these updates aim to enhance...more
9/19/2024
/ Bank Merger Act ,
FDIC ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Merger Agreements ,
New Guidance ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements
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 28, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a proposed rule aimed at strengthening and modernizing financial institutions’ anti-money laundering and countering the...more
7/3/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
U.S. Treasury