By: Andrew C. Glass, Gregory N. Blase, and Joshua L. Durham
On June 11, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to ban the inclusion of medical bills in consumer credit reports.
Read MoreBy: John ReVeal and Jennifer Crowder
On May 21, the South Carolina Governor signed a Bill to enact the Earned Wage Access Services Act (the Act), joining Kansas, Missouri, Nevada and Wisconsin as the fifth state to codify earned wage access (EWA) services. Many other states are considering such legislation, while a few others have so far relied on regulatory opinions or guidance.
Read MoreBy: Jeremy McLaughlin and Joshua Durham
Based on a new statement of policy (“Statement”) issued on 20 April 2024 by Pennsylvania’s Department of Banking and Securities (“Department”), effective 15 October 2024, the Department will include virtual currency in the definition of “money” for purposes of the state’s money transmission law (“Law”). Previously, in January 2019, the Department had issued guidance concluding the opposite, that only fiat currency constituted “money” under the Law. The Department’s about-face follows other state regulators that have increasingly concluded that virtual currency is regulated under their state money transmission laws.
Read MoreBy: Dan Knight and Ben Kneebush
On 12 March 2024, the Australian Treasury released for consultation an exposure draft legislative package that proposes to amend the current regulatory framework to regulate low cost credit contracts (LCCCs), including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) arrangements and other types of credit contracts. These changes are designed to be flexible, adaptable and proportionate to the risk of consumer harm.
Read MoreBy Jeremy McLaughlin, Andrew Hinkes, and Josh Durham
Yesterday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that, according to the agency, aims to “crack down on [fintech] regulatory arbitrage by ensuring large technology firms and other nonbank payment providers are subjected to appropriate oversight.”
Read MoreBy Cliff Histed, Cheryl Isaac, Eden Rohrer, and Josh Durham
On 12 October, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a complaint against Stephen Ehrlich, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency platform, Voyager Digital (Voyager), in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. In its 55-page complaint, the CFTC asserts both fraud and registration failures by Ehrlich in connection with the Voyager platform and Voyager’s operation of an unregistered commodity pool.
Read MoreBy Judie Rinearson and Jeremy McLaughlin
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent Consumer Alert was certainly well intentioned. Many consumers (including the authors) who hold funds in payment apps (such as Venmo and Paypal) should be made aware that the funds are usually NOT held in an FDIC-insured bank. But that doesn’t mean the funds are necessarily unprotected.
Read MoreBy Cheryl L. Isaac and Maxwell J. Black
Last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chair Rostin Behnam asserted that fiat-based stablecoins (such as USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Binance USD (BUSD), all of which are pegged to an underlying fiat currency) should be considered as commodities, subject to the CFTC’s enforcement jurisdiction.
Read MoreBy Judie Rinearson, Jennifer Crowder, and Jeremy McLaughlin
On February 28, 2023, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in the abandoned property lawsuit, Delaware v. Pennsylvania (see https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/145orig_kjfl.pdf)
The question addressed by the Court focused on which state was entitled to collect unclaimed property, which arose from two financial products sold by banks on behalf of Moneygram: Agent Checks and Teller’s Checks (collectively, the “Checks”).
Read MoreBy Daniel Knight and Oliver Herrmann
New licensing requirements for crypto service providers are coming, following a series of consultations launched last week by Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. The Government approach focuses on strengthening enforcement, bolstering consumer protection and ultimately establishing a new licensing framework.
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