Fintech regulations

As it attempts to craft policy on access to consumers’ financial account information, the agency is wading into a battle between those who want data to flow more freely and those who prioritize security.

The rulemaking is expected to draw enormous interest from both banks and third-party fintech providers.

A second-term Trump administration would likely continue its deregulatory efforts, focus on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's exit from conservatorship, and seek to facilitate fintech participation in the banking system.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a busy policy agenda heading into the new year, as well as strong external forces that are beyond its control.

Despite assurances by Director Kathy Kraninger that the agency is cracking down on discrimination, it has not filed an enforcement action or sent a Department of Justice referral on a fair-lending violation in two years.

Draft legislation would amend the Bank Service Company Act to give the National Credit Union Administration third-party vendor oversight, a power it has been requesting for the better part of two decades.

The bureau issued three policies removing the threat of legal liability for approved companies that test new products.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three House members are seeking more details about Paul Watkins' past work with an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center says is an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

After years of largely standing on the sidelines, lawmakers are taking a closer look at whether algorithms used by banks and fintechs to make lending decisions could make discrimination worse instead of better.

Nearly half the nation's state regulators have agreed to a new multistate licensing business for money servicers, including fintechs.

Fuller transparency from lenders in the mortgage decision process and disclosure on disapprovals would help keep biases in check and take down racial barriers to homeownership, according to a study by Clever Real Estate.

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top GOP panel member, said Facebook must testify about Project Libra.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Doug Jones, D-Ala., cited research that found algorithmic lending can lead to higher interest rates for minority borrowers.

2019 has already seen billions of dollars in fintech M&A. The deals have come at a rapid enough pace that acquirers are often buying companies that are still absorbing deals of their own.

The bureau wants to further remove the threat of legal liability for firms that test products benefiting consumers, but the attorneys general say the agency cannot provide immunity from state law.

As suspense builds over which firm will be the first to seek the special-purpose charter, a side discussion has emerged over which financial services sector has the most to gain — or lose — from the new option.

Executives urged the consumer bureau at a public meeting to keep a closer eye on artificial intelligence innovations developed by fintech firms that are subject to less regulation.

FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams questioned whether regulators and banks are fully capturing the emerging risks of a new shadow banking system.

Several states pledged to compensate for a slowdown in enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Mick Mulvaney, but their efforts have been complicated by tight budgets and doubts over whether such initiatives are necessary.