On September 15, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a Final Rule bringing banks that lack a federal functional regulator further under its purview. The rule subjects these institutions to minimum standards for anti-money laundering (“AML”) requirements, including a BSA officer, AML policies and procedures, and regular employee training, among other obligations. It
On July 31, 2020, Varo Money Inc. announced that it was granted a national bank charter by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The charter will allow Varo, a mobile banking fintech, to launch a national bank and offer a range of financial services and products that are backed by the
It did not take long for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”) May 29 Final Rule codifying the valid-when-made principal to face challenges in court. On July 29, the attorneys general for New York, California and Illinois filed suit in the Northern District of California to block the rule, which extended
On July 23, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) filed its appellate brief asking the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the lower court’s decision to block the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s (“OCC”)’s special purpose national bank charter (“fintech charter”).
The DFS initially challenged the OCC’s fintech charter in
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) choice to rescind the immigration program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”). The Court noted the question before it was not whether DHS may rescind DACA but rather, whether DHS followed proper procedure in rescinding the
On May 29, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a long-awaited final rule to clarify and underscore the ‘valid when made’ principle in which the interest rates permissible before a bank transfers a loan continues to be permissible after the transfer to a non-bank.
Generally, under the National Bank Act
With the help of McGuireWoods, Funding Circle, the leading online small business loan platform in the United States, joins fintech companies Intuit, PayPal, and Square, to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was enacted as part of the CARES Act last month. To recap, the PPP provides aid
In a pair of recent memoranda from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (“EOUSA”) issued on March 31, 2020, and April 13, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has effectively halted enforcement actions and the collection of civil penalties. Included in this temporary suspension is the collection of civil penalties incurred in
Fintech companies Intuit, PayPal and Square have officially been approved to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was enacted as part of the CARES Act last month. To recap, the PPP provides aid in the form of potentially forgivable loans to eligible small businesses, which loans
On April 3, 2020, OIG issued a process for inquiries to be submitted to OIG about the application of administrative enforcement authorities against certain arrangements directly connected to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). OIG particularly asked for inquiries related to the Federal anti-kickback statute and civil monetary penalties prohibition on beneficiary inducements, where enforcement discretion