May 3, 2017, Cov Financial Services

The Treasury Department announced today that Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry would be stepping down from his post effective this Friday, May 5, 2017.  Keith Noreika, a Washington, D.C., banking lawyer who was part of President Trump’s transition team for Treasury, will be appointed First Deputy Comptroller of the Currency and will serve as...… Continue ...

March 28, 2017, The CLS Blue Sky Blog Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets

March 15, 2017, Cov Financial Services

As has been widely reported, FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig put forward in remarks to the Institute of International Bankers on Monday, March 13, a “Market-Based Proposal for Regulatory Relief and Accountability” (the “Hoenig Proposal” or the “Proposal”).  If adopted, the Hoenig Proposal would substantially change the regulation of large and complex banking ...

February 17, 2017, Cov Financial Services

The Clearing House published this week a report that highlights potential anachronisms and inefficiencies in current U.S. anti-money laundering / counter-financing of terrorism regulation.  The report makes 8 core recommendations for reform, including the following: Centralizing Regulatory Responsibility:  “The Department of Treasury, through its Office of ...

February 12, 2017, Cov Financial Services

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently issued a rare decision on a bank’s ability to challenge its supervisory ratings—in this case, its Federal Deposit Insurance Company (“FDIC”) Capital, Assets, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity (“CAMELS”) rating—in court.  See Builders Bank v. FDIC, — F.3d —, 2017 WL 237585 (7th Cir. ...

February 3, 2017, Covington Alert

Throughout his campaign, President Donald Trump promised to curtail financial regulations, particularly those promulgated under the Dodd-Frank Act. President Trump argued frequently that the regulations issued under the act have proven overly burdensome and, among other things, limited job growth. This afternoon, the President took his first formal step in ...

January 30, 2017, Cov Financial Services

As we previously discussed, in October 2016, a 3-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit reviewing an enforcement action by the CFPB determined that the Bureau’s director is subject to at-will removal by the President.  The Bureau subsequently petitioned for re-hearing before the full court. Late last week, following a motion to intervene by several state...… Continue ...

January 25, 2017, Cov Financial Services

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) has released supplemental examination procedures on third party risk management.  The procedures apply to national banks and federal savings associations of all sizes.  They supplement OCC Bulletin 2013-29, which governs the risk management frameworks maintained by OCC-regulated banks in establishing, ...

December 13, 2016, Cov Financial Services

Yesterday, the Federal banking agencies issued final rules that permanently extend the examination cycle, from 12 months to 18 months, for well-capitalized and well-managed banks, savings associations, and Federal agencies and branches of foreign banks with less than $1.0 billion in total assets. The final rules, which implement a Congressional mandate under a ...

November 18, 2016, Cov Financial Services

President-Elect Donald J. Trump has said little about his plans for money laundering and terrorist financing enforcement, or his plans for the agency responsible for many of the Federal government’s anti-money laundering (“AML”) initiatives, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”). FinCEN is a bureau within the Treasury Department and not a fully ...

November 4, 2016, Cov Financial Services

In a speech delivered yesterday to an industry conference in London, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry did not reject the idea of a special charter for fintech firms – but did reject the idea that such a charter would come with lessened regulatory burdens as compared to a traditional bank charter. In particular, Comptroller...… Continue Reading

November 1, 2016, Cov Financial Services

The CFPB released yesterday its Supervisory Highlights for Fall 2016.  The Supervisory Highlights state that, taking into account non-public enforcement actions, “recent supervisory activities […] resulted in approximately $11.3 million in restitution to more than 225,000 consumers” during the May-August 2016 review period. The Highlights reflect continued focus ...

May 5, 2016, Covington Alert

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a proposed rule substantially curtailing the ability of financial services firms and consumers to enter into voluntary pre-dispute arbitration clauses. The proposed rule would prevent financial services providers from including arbitration clauses in consumer contracts unless those arbitration clauses ...

February 8, 2016, BNA's Banking Daily

December 30, 2015, BNA's International Trade Daily

November 17, 2015, Global Policy Watch

Note: This post is the second in a series of posts on the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by Covington’s International and Public Policy lawyers.  The final TPP text, which was released on November 5, 2015, is available here.  TPP is not expected to enter into force until at least 2016, with the timeline...… Continue Reading

October 15, 2015, Covington Alert

May 18, 2015, Global Policy Watch

Almost all of the more than 3,000 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in existence offer foreign investors the protection of “fair and equitable treatment” under international law.  India’s new draft model BIT does not.  In place of the well-established standard of protection, which has been interpreted and applied in hundreds of prior investment arbitrations, ...

January 26, 2015, Global Policy Watch

One of the items at the top of President Obama’s agenda in India this week is the long-delayed U.S.-India bilateral investment treaty (BIT).  Such a treaty was proposed by the President during his 2010 visit to India, but the proposal got little traction with the prior government.  It is likely to do better with the...… Continue Reading

July 10, 2014, Global Policy Watch

On July 9, Indonesians went to the polls to vote for the nation’s second directly-elected President.  Neither candidate has conceded, and official results will not be announced until July 22.  However, independent polling and election monitoring organizations point to the loss of Prabowo Subianto, a Suharto-era general, to relative newcomer Joko Widodo, a ...

April 30, 2014, BankDirector.com

February 24, 2014, Covington E-Alert

2010, 34 Harvard Environmental Law Review 577