The Biden Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk (the Executive Order) is the latest significant step by the Administration to analyze and mitigate the risks that climate change poses to the U.S. economy, businesses, workers and the financial system.  Our memorandum focuses on those areas of the Executive Order that are most likely to create risks and opportunities for the private sector. These are, in our view, the impact on the financial sector, which will…

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations (the Staff) recently issued a risk alert reminding broker-dealers (firms) of their obligations under anti-money laundering (AML) rules and regulations, in particular requirements related to monitoring for and reporting of suspicious activity (AML Risk Alert). The AML Risk Alert comes on the heels of several recent enforcement actions, as well as other recent SEC and FINRA statements, with a focus on broker-dealers facilitating trading…

A recent guilty conviction, after a jury trial, shows how complex and fraught the zigzag path to marijuana legalization is in the payments space. At a time when the federal government has signaled that criminal prosecutions in states that have legalized marijuana are a low to non-existent priority, this prosecution highlights that federal criminal authorities will not hesitate to prosecute bank fraud that involves transaction laundering or other attempts to disguise the source of payments…

Financial services regulatory reform will continue to be active in 2021, with the Biden Administration focused on activity at the intersection of financial regulation and social policy.  As we observe the changing landscape, here is the Spring Forward Edition of our reference tool, which provides context and summarizes current and expected developments across a range of key regulatory areas, agencies and actors. The Davis Polk Financial Services Regulatory Reform Tool is available here.  …

Digital dollars and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are in the spotlight, and questions abound as to the potential design, availability and functionality of a CBDC in the United States. This deck tracks U.S. congressional legislative efforts that may lead to the creation of a U.S. digital dollar, and we will update it as debates continue and proposals are refined. The deck explains digital dollars/CBDC and analyzes the key design features of the bills that…