On July 11, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) announced their plans to develop new adjustable rate mortgage products that would rely on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) instead of LIBOR. Given the GSEs’ dominance in the mortgage market, their re-designed ARMs will undoubtedly have a significant impact on hybrid ARMs of the future. While the GSEs provided no details about the new products, both pledged to rely on a framework provided in the…

On May 15, 2019, the CFPB published a Request for Comment on the Regulation E provisions that require consumers to opt in to overdraft fees on one-time debit card and ATM transactions. The Request for Comment is made under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires an agency to review rules within 10 years after their adoption. Read our client alert.…

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System  released a proposed rule to revise regulations related to the determination of “control” under the Bank Holding Company Act (“BHC Act”) and the Home Owners’ Loan Act. The Proposed Rule would incorporate existing interpretations under the “controlling influence” prong of the control definition into Federal Reserve regulations and would make certain adjustments to historical Federal Reserve practice in this area. Read our client alert.…

On April 8, 2019, the federal banking agencies released two proposals which, if adopted, would further tailor the approach to supervision of large foreign banking organizations (FBOs). For FBOs with a more significant U.S. presence, the proposals would establish categories for the application of requirements based on size and certain other risk-based indicators. These categories would parallel the tailored framework proposed for the supervision of large domestic banking organizations released in November 2018. Read our client …

On April 8 and 16, 2019, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC published proposed changes to resolution plan (or “living will”) requirements applicable to U.S. and foreign banking organizations. The regulatory changes are necessary because the 2018 Regulatory Relief Act raised the asset thresholds for applicability of the living will requirements. The proposal would apply different filing frequency and informational content requirements based on the risk a firm poses to the U.S. financial system. Read our…

Yesterday, five federal agencies – the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection – issued a two-page, joint statement on the role of supervisory guidance for regulated institutions. Although brief, the joint statement is significant. Read our client alert.…

Two key federal government announcements were made on July 31, 2018 related to fintech issues. First, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a press release announcing a report entitled “Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation.” The Report is the fourth and final in a series of reports prepared by Treasury in response to President Trump’s February 2017 Executive Order 13772. In addition, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that it would begin…