The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-Related Financial Disclosures (TISFD or the Taskforce) is a novel initiative, launched late in 2024, aimed at addressing the growing importance of inequality and social (or, if you like, people-related) risks in the financial sector. It is a global coalition of more than 20 companies, financial institutions, labor unions, civil…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against a crypto market maker (Market Maker) on October 10, 2024, alleging that the firm operated as an unregistered securities dealer in violation of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) by virtue of acting as a market maker in cryptoasset securities.

Almost exactly a year after issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Personal Financial Data rights, on October 22, 2024 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final Rule under Section 1033 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The Rule, also referred to as the “open banking rule,” has been a key priority…

In an unusual move, on July 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stayed an order that was previously issued by its own Division of Trading and Markets just one week earlier on July 19, 2024. That order approved amendments to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rule 2210 that would have allowed FINRA member…

The US Supreme Court ruled on May 16, 2024 that the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—which is funded with money from the Federal Reserve rather than the US Congress—does not run afoul of the Appropriations Clause of the US Constitution. The Court’s decision reversed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling that the CFPB’s…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on February 16 issued an internal process regulation—effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register—updating and formalizing the steps that supervised institutions may take to appeal certain adverse supervisory findings and ratings. While there are minimal substantive changes, the regulation is informative in its acknowledgment of the significant centralization…

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on January 29 proposed meaningful revisions to its rules and processes for reviewing proposed transactions involving national banks under the Bank Merger Act. The proposed amendments would notably remove the expedited application review process and associated OCC streamlined business combination application, replacing them with a…