CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
As the government shutdown drags on, some financial services programs—particularly housing programs– are being affected.
The CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve system, not through annual appropriations, and technically is still operating, although as we have reported previously many CFPB employees are not being permitted to work. (That CFPB funding mechanism was the subject of a Supreme Court case and the court found the funding system constitutional.)… Continue Reading
We recently wrote about the August 15th D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the lawsuit brought by the labor unions representing CFPB employees against Acting Director Russell Vought. The unions sought injunctive relief in response to what they described as an attempted “shutdown” of the Bureau.
In a 2–1 ruling, the Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by the District Court.… Continue Reading
Republican senators on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee are asking banking regulators to review their process of using Matters Requiring Attention (MRA) in the bank supervisory process.
“If used effectively, these are valuable supervisory tools that can mitigate broader issues and maintain financial stability,” 11 GOP senators said in a letter to the FDIC, OCC and the Federal Reserve.… Continue Reading
Thirty-two attorneys general representing states, territories and Washington, D.C. are asking Congress to pass legislation to provide financial institutions a safe harbor if they provide services to marijuana-related businesses in states where cannabis is legal.
“Numerous state cannabis regulatory agencies have reported they have been turned away by the financial institutions that regularly service those agencies for other needs when the agencies have sought to bank cannabis licensees’ tax and other payments,” the AGs wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders and chairmen and ranking members of House and Senate committees dealing with banking issues.… Continue Reading
Federal banking regulators have issued a joint statement in an effort to provide clarity on banks’ engagement in crypto-asset related activities.
The statement does not create any new supervisory requirements but warns financial institutions that they must be particularly diligent in dealing with crypto-asset safekeeping.
“Given the virtual nature of crypto-assets, and the potentially increased operational risks associated with crypto-asset safekeeping, a banking organization’s cybersecurity environment should be a key focus of risk management,” the agencies said.… Continue Reading
President Trump has issued an Executive Order directing banking agencies to adopt policies to ensure that financial institutions do not use reputational risk as a basis for restricting access to banking services—a process known as “debanking.”
“Individuals, their businesses, and their families have been subjected to debanking on the basis of their political affiliations, religious beliefs or lawful business activities, and have suffered frozen payrolls, debt and crushing interest, and other significant harms to their livelihoods, reputations, and financial well-being,” Trump said, in the order.… Continue Reading
Today’s episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast offers an in-depth analysis of the unitary executive theory and its implications for terminations by President Trump of the Democratic members/commissioners of several so-called independent Federal agencies. The episode features Lev Menand, an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, who provides expert insights into financial institutions and administrative law and the validity of the Trump terminations.… Continue Reading
In Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees, a case on its emergency docket that could have implications for the CFPB, the Supreme Court issued a brief opinion allowing the Trump Administration to fire tens of thousands of workers at 19 different federal government agencies while appeals over the firings continue.… Continue Reading
The podcast show we are releasing this week focuses generally on the so-called “Unitary Executive Theory” and specifically on the legality of President Trump firing without cause the Democratic Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission and the members of other independent agencies, despite language in the governing statutes that prohibit the President from firing a member without cause and a 1935 Supreme Court opinion in Humphrey’s Executor holding that the firing of an FTC Commissioner by the President is unlawful if done without cause.… Continue Reading
We are releasing today on our podcast show a repurposed webinar that we produced on June 11, 2025 entitled “What is happening at the federal agencies that is relevant to the residential mortgage and settlement service industries.”
During this podcast, we will inform you about recent developments at federal agencies, including the CFPB, HUD/FHA, OCC, FDIC, FRB and USDA (collectively, the “Agencies”), as well as Congress, the White House, states and the courts.… Continue Reading
