States

A new task force initiated by an executive order from President Donald Trump is intended to fight fraud through the combined efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures and Trading Commission, as well as other government agencies and officials.

The task force is the latest in a series of similar coalitions created by previous administrations.

Find out more about the functions and leadership structure of the new cooperative entity.

The spotlight on state regulators is brighter than in the past with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) electing to focus more energy on functions other than enforcement under Mick Mulvaney’s leadership.

Richard Horn, principal attorney at Garris Horn PLLC and former senior attorney at the CFPB and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., shared the spotlight at the 2018 National Settlement Services Summit with two state regulators – John Lartz from Illinois and Chuck Myers from Virginia – as well as Michelle Korsmo, CEO of the American Land Title Association, to examine their approaches to the new regulatory environment, and taking an active role in shaping it.

Find out what matters the speakers explored in-depth during the session.

A New York Southern District judge has rejected the January ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) single-director structure in a decision invalidating the bureau’s claims in a class action lawsuit alleging multiple violations of consumer protection laws.

Dodd Frank Update reached out to Goodwin Law Partners William Jay and Anthony Alexis to explain the series of events that would have to occur to attract a grant of certiorari from the Supreme Court, by which the higher court would review the lower courts’ decisions.  

Learn what reasoning the judge relied on in making her decision.

There are a variety of questions the financial industry may have regarding what states can and cannot do in terms of supervising the financial marketplace, a task which, historically, has fallen mainly to federal regulators.

Buckley Sandler Partner Jonice Gray Tucker broke down what state attorneys general may be able to do to ramp up their enforcement activity in the financial space while speaking with Dodd Frank Update.

Find out what authority states have to invoke federal statutes and combine efforts with other states to go after regional and national financial companies, as well as how preemption and visitorial powers factor into such cases.

In a groundbreaking move, the American Bankers Association (ABA) has partnered with its state counterparts in Montana and North Carolina to release television ads supporting re-election campaigns of two supporters of S. 2155.   

The day after ABA touted the release of the ads, President Donald Trump decried one of the ABA-endorsed politicians for criticizing Trump’s nominee to head up the Department of Veterans Affairs, during an impromptu call into the Fox News talk show “Fox & Friends.”

Find out who the candidates are, why they appeal to ABA members and more.

Amid growing speculation state attorneys general will become more active enforcing consumer protection laws as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shifts resources towards other functions, acting director Mick Mulvaney recently said that the bureau wants to increase collaboration between with state regulators.

Mulvaney talked about what the bureau hopes to get out of such collaborative efforts during speaking engagements before the National Association of Attorneys General and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Find out what details he was able to divulge about the bureau’s new attitude towards enforcement.  

When it comes to pushing the envelope, Mick Mulvaney made it crystal clear in a recent memo to staffers that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is done with that approach. But that doesn’t mean other players in the industry won’t take a stab at testing boundaries in their own way.

Akerman Partner Kathleen Ryan told Dodd Frank Update she sees the potential for some upside and some downside to the bureau’s new approach.

Let’s consider some of the possible implications the bureau’s new approach could mean for the industry and consumers. 

Multiple congressional leaders are taking Equifax to task regarding the recent data breach that compromised sensitive information of approximately 143 million Americans.

Two House representatives want the credit reporting company to explain the circumstances surrounding the breach before Congress. Two senators have issued a written ultimatum requesting the company to disclose specific information about the breach and its consumer remediation plans.

With so much riding on the information compromised in this incident, be sure to stay on top of what is revealed by such inquiries. 

Equifax recently reported a data breach that impacts a major segment of the U.S. population and calls attention to two hot-button issues for the financial industry: cybersecurity and arbitration.

After discovering that vulnerabilities in the company’s website allowed hackers to access sensitive information of millions of Americans, Equifax put out a press release detailing steps it is taking to help affected consumers, and met with further controversy. 

Find out how impactful this situation is and the multiple controversies it touches.