October 2017 – Consumer Financial Services Watch

Treasury Reports Continue to Inform Dodd-Frank Reform Efforts

Oct 31 2017

By Daniel F. C. Crowley, Bruce J. Heiman, William A. Kirk, Karishma Shah Page, Eric A. Love, Dean A. Brazier

On October 26, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) released a report entitled “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities: Asset Management and Insurance,” the third in a series of reports that President Trump’s Executive Order 13772 on Core Principles for Regulating the U.S. Financial System (the “Core Principles”) requires Treasury to issue about potential ways to legislatively and administratively reform the U.S. financial system, consistent with the Core Principles. Earlier this month, Treasury released its second such report, which outlined recommendations concerning the capital markets. Treasury’s first report on banks and credit unions was released in June 2017 (See K&L Gates Alert: Dodd-Frank Reform; What Comes Next?), and one additional report is expected to be released in the near future. Treasury’s recommendations are likely to inform the efforts currently underway in Congress to advance financial regulatory reform legislation. This alert highlights a number of notable recommendations contained in the asset management and insurance report, as well as the capital markets report.

To read the full alert, click here.

Senate Joins House in Resolution Overturning CFPB Arbitration Rule; President Trump Is Likely to Sign

Oct 27 2017

By Andrew C. Glass, Robert W. Sparkes III, Roger L. Smerage, Elma Delic

After weeks of speculation, the U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday night to join the House of Representatives in passing a Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) resolution to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) recent arbitration agreements rule. The Senate vote split 50-50, with two Republican senators—Senators Lindsey Graham (SC) and John Kennedy (LA)—voting against the resolution. The split vote set the stage for Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the resolution, which is now headed to President Trump’s desk for signature. In the hours after the vote, the President released a statement indicating his support for the resolution.

The Screen Scrape Debate will not Abate

Oct 11 2017

By Judith E. Rinearson, Rizwan Qayyum

The debate surrounding “screen-scraping” continues as Member States of the European Union are preparing for the impending Second Payment Services Directive (“PSD2”). Screen scraping is the practice in which third-party Payment Initiation Service Providers (“PISPs”) and Account Information Service Providers (“AISPs”) are granted access to bank accounts of a client utilising their credentials to perform a service. As heralded in our discussion in July identifying the problem, the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) maintained their stance of outlawing the practice in the final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (“RTS”) on secure communication and Strong Customer Authentication (“SCA”). Consistent industry pressure has led the European Commission (“EC”) to request of the EBA to permit AISPs and PISPs to utilise screen scraping as a “fallback option”.

With Senate on the Sidelines So Far, Financial Services Trade Groups Launch Challenge to CFPB Arbitration Rule

Oct 06 2017

By Andrew C. Glass, Robert W. Sparkes III, and Roger L. Smerage

More than two months after its promulgation, the fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) arbitration agreements rule remains uncertain. The Senate may ultimately join the House and invoke the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to nullify the CFPB rule. But several financial services trade groups are not waiting to find out and have commenced their own legal challenge to the rule. On Friday, September 29, 2017, over a dozen such groups—led by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America—filed suit against the CFPB, and its director Richard Cordray, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. See Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, et al., No. 3:17-cv-02670-D (N.D. Tex. Sept. 29, 2017).

Archive:October 2017