Uncategorized – Consumer Financial Services Watch

Dodd-Frank Reform Efforts Intensify

Nov 22 2017

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

On November 16, Senate Banking Committee (“SBC”) Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act,” long-awaited Senate legislation designed to foster economic growth and reduce regulatory burdens for small- and medium-sized financial institutions. A SBC section-by-section summary of the bill is available here. Earlier this year, the House passed on a party-line vote H.R. 10, the “Financial CHOICE Act of 2017” (the “FCA”), House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s (R-TX) bill to comprehensively reform the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). S. 2155 is narrower in scope than the House bill and has to date garnered the support of nine Democratic Senators.

Supreme Court Again Declines to Review Ruling That Courts Determine Availability of Classwide Arbitration

Nov 13 2017

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

The United States Supreme Court recently declined to review a ruling that courts, not arbitrators, determine the availability of classwide arbitration. Previous attempts by putative collective or class representatives to obtain certiorari on the issue were unsuccessful. See, e.g., Opalinski v. Robert Half International Inc., 61 F.3d 326, 330-35 (3d Cir. 2014) (“Opalinski I”) (For K&L Gates’ coverage on the denials of the prior petitions see here and here). The Court’s most recent decision in Opalinski v. Robert Half International Inc. suggests that the Court still does not perceive sufficient disagreement, if any, among the federal courts of appeals on the issue. 677 F. App’x 738, 740 (3d Cir. 2017) (“Opalinski II”). As a result, the trend continues that the availability of classwide arbitration is a gateway issue for the courts.

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.

Regulation CC Amendments Reallocate Risks of Remote Deposit

Jun 14 2017

By: John ReVeal

More than three years after proposing amendments to Regulation CC to add new indemnities for remotely deposited checks, new warranties for electronic checks and electronic returned checks, and new indemnities for electronically created items, the Federal Reserve has at last issued final rules. These new rules also modify the expeditious return rules, including by making electronic returned checks subject to those requirements. The final rules were issued on May 31, 2017, and will take effect on July 1, 2018.

To read the full alert, click here.

No Class Conflict in Data Breach Settlement Involving Class Members With and Without Economic Injury

Jun 01 2017

By Andrew Glass, Matthew Lowe, and Brandon Dillman

On remand from the Eighth Circuit,[1] the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota recently recertified a data breach settlement class over an objector’s assertion of an intraclass conflict. Specifically, the objector asserted that a conflict existed between class members who purportedly had suffered loss and were guaranteed a payout under the proposed settlement, and those who had not suffered loss and were not guaranteed a payout. See In re Target Customer Data Security Breach Litig., No. 14-2522 (PAM), 2017 WL 2178306 (D. Minn. May 17, 2017). In rejecting the objector’s alleged conflict, the Court emphasized that “the question is not whether there is any potential or theoretical conflict among class members, it is whether class members’ different interests are antagonistic to each other.” Id. at *3.

Financial Inclusion and Robust Regulation Are on the Table as OCC Pushes Ahead With Fintech Charter

Mar 21 2017

By Anthony Nolan, Judith Rinearson, Jeremy McLaughlin, and Eric Love

Last week the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued a Draft Supplement to its Licensing Manual (“Supplement”) in furtherance of its proposal to rolling out a special purpose national bank (“SPNB”) charter for financial technology (“fintech”) companies. The Supplement outlines the process by which a fintech company may apply for a SPNB charter, and the considerations the OCC will take into account when evaluating such applications. A link to the Supplement appears here.

The Supplement reiterates OCC determination that the SPNB charter would be “in the public interest” because it would provide “uniform standards and supervision,” “support[] the dual banking system,” promote “growth, modernization, and competition” in the financial system, and encourage fintech companies to “promote financial inclusion.” It also makes clear the OCC’s determination to promote financial inclusion and to rebut criticisms that the SPNB charter would represent a light touch regulatory regime.

Proposed Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 Seeks to Curb Attorney Abuses of Class Action Device and Expand Class Action Defendant Protections

Mar 01 2017

By Brian M. Forbes, Joseph C. Wylie II, Molly K. McGinley, Jennifer Janeira Nagle, and Matthew N. Lowe

On February 9, 2017, Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (the “Act” or “H.R. 985”). [1] The Act significantly expands the class action reforms proposed in an earlier version of the bill that stalled after passage in the U.S. House of Representatives [2] and imposes significant new restrictions on class action lawyers and plaintiffs seeking to proceed under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as well as implementing new rules applicable to cases consolidated through the multidistrict litigation process. The stated purposes of the Act are to: (1) “assure fair and prompt recoveries for class members and multidistrict litigation plaintiffs with legitimate claims;” (2) “diminish abuses in class action and mass tort litigation that are undermining the integrity of the U.S. legal system;” and (3) “restore the intent of the framers of the United States Constitution by ensuring Federal court consideration of interstate controversies of national importance consistent with diversity jurisdiction principles.” [3] In a press release, Rep. Goodlatte announced that the objective of the proposed legislation is to “keep baseless class action suits away from innocent parties, while still keeping the doors to justice open for parties with real and legitimate claims, and maximizing their recoveries.”

To read the full alert, click here.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Calls for Modernizing the TCPA

Sep 28 2016

By Pamela Garvie, Andrew Glass, Greg Blase, Peter Nelson and Elana Reman

On September 22, 2016 the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on modernizing the TCPA. The hearing is significant because it marks the first time that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the TCPA needs to be updated to reflect changing technology and business practices, and to draw a distinction between “harassing, malicious” calls from “bad actors” and “legitimate, informational calls that consumers want.” Republican members of the Subcommittee have raised concerns about the TCPA during past FCC oversight hearings, but this hearing actually was held at the request of full Committee Ranking Democrat Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

Inclusive Communities Excluded from Court—Plaintiff Can’t Meet Supreme Court Standard for Disparate-Impact Claims under the Fair Housing Act

Sep 12 2016

By Paul F. Hancock, Andrew C. Glass, Olivia Kelman, and Joshua Butera

K&L Gates LLP previously observed that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of disparate-impact claims under the Fair Housing Act in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. had a “silver lining.” In particular, the Supreme Court identified that a plaintiff must meet a rigorous standard to establish a prima facie case of disparate-impact discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. On remand, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas applied that standard, holding that the plaintiff fell far short of meeting the Supreme Court’s “proof regimen” necessary to sustain a disparate-impact claim. The district court’s decision reaffirms that, in interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision properly, a Fair Housing Act plaintiff proceeding under a disparate-impact theory faces a significant burden.

To read the full alert, click here.

Who Bears the Risk? Federal Court Holds That a Purchaser of Unsecured Consumer Loans Is the “True Lender,” Voiding Enforceability of the Loans

Sep 07 2016

By Irene C. Freidel and David D. Christensen

A California federal court has held that the purchaser of small-dollar consumer loans is the “true lender” and thus subject to state usury laws, even though a separate tribal entity funded and closed the loans in its own name. See Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. CashCall, Inc*. The court’s holding, which adopts the arguments of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and renders the loans serviced by CashCall unenforceable, challenges the business model that many marketplace lending platforms use to offer alternative, unsecured loans to consumers. Generally speaking, partnerships between marketplace platforms and tribal entities, state-chartered (and federally insured) banks, or national banks are intended to protect the platforms from the substantial licensing and compliance burden of state lending and licensing laws, and also to permit loans that might otherwise exceed the borrower’s home state usury limit. The recent CashCall decision, however, is another reminder that state and federal regulators, as well as plaintiffs’ attorneys, may be able to pierce these partnerships where a court finds that the financial institution funding and closing the loan does not bear substantial risk on those loans.

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