Smith Regulatory Strategies
1. On Wednesday October 8, 2014, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced its interest in exploring the manner in which consumers applying to open checking accounts are approved and, more critically, refused a checking account based on information in reports of consumer reporting agencies that focus on transaction accounts. These reports, and the related.
1. On September 30, 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Michigan insurance agency Lighthouse Title to pay $200,000 for illegal real estate settlement referral agreements sending a clear and simple message that quid-pro-quo agreements for real estate referrals are illegal. One of CFPB’s missions is to ensure that the mortgage market is a.
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced yet another large settlement. In this case, NYDFS claimed that a consulting firm, PricewaterHouseCoopers (PwC), watered down its independent report at the request of its client, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. PwC was fined $25 million and is barred for two years from representing any new clients.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the bureau within Treasury responsible for implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and for anti- money laundering (AML) matters, issued an advisory to U.S. financial institutions on the need to promote a culture of compliance within their institutions. The issuance is fairly straight-forward, but emphasizes the need for the.
1. GE Capital will pay $169 million to about 108,000 Hispanic borrowers to settle perhaps the largest credit card discrimination suit in history. The company will pay an additional $56 million to resolve accusations that it tricked customers into buying products they didn’t intend to buy, and it will pay a $3.5 million civil penalty..