The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on July 28 ordered U.S. Bank to pay a $37.5 million penalty to compensate harmed consumers after the bank illegally accessed customers’ credit reports and associates opened checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and lines of credit without their customers’ permission. The violations Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges against J.P. Morgan Securities, UBS Financial Services, and TradeStation Securities for deficiencies in their programs to prevent customer identity theft, in violation of the SEC’s Identity Theft Red Flags Rule (Regulation S-ID). The SEC’s orders find that each firm violated Rule 201 of Read More
Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty, which will be distributed to harmed investors, to settle charges that it provided misleading account statements to about 1.4 million investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which pursued the fraud case, said that the statements included materially Read More
Bank of America has been ordered to pay $225 million in civil penalties and redress to harmed consumers for engaging in abusive practices when it denied consumers access to unemployment benefits on prepaid debit cards at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a separate case, Bank of America is Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued two separate orders on July 5, simultaneously filing and settling charges against two separate swap dealers for failing to comply with their reporting obligations in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations. In the first action, the CFTC ordered BNP Paribas, Read More
The banking sector is experiencing a “growing challenge” recruiting, retaining, and replacing compliance staff with the desired level of knowledge and experience, according to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s “Semiannual Risk Perspective” report, released June 23. Staffing struggles in the banking industry come at a time when compliance Read More
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is requesting public comment on climate-related financial risk “to better inform its understanding and oversight of climate-related financial risk as pertinent to the derivatives markets and underlying commodities markets,” the CFTC announced. On June 2, the CFTC unanimously voted to release its request for information Read More
Securities industry regulator FINRA has hit Credit Suisse Securities with a $9 million fine for failing to comply with rules requiring firms to disclose potential conflicts of interest when issuing research reports and for violating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Customer Protection Rule. As part of the settlement, FINRA also Read More
The U.S. Treasury Department released the results of a broad review of its use of economic and financial sanctions and issued five recommendations to “preserve and enhance their effectiveness” in supporting national security going forward. “Sanctions are a fundamentally important tool to advance our national security interests,” said Deputy Secretary Read More
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a “cease and desist” order against MUFG Union Bank based in San Francisco for engaging in “unsafe or unsound practices regarding technology and operational risk management.” The regulator also took issue with what it called, “the bank’s noncompliance with the Interagency Read More
