Fintech

Subscribe to Fintech via RSS

The OCC announced this week that it has conditionally approved applications from Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) to create SoFi Bank, National Association (SoFi Bank, N.A.), as a full service national bank headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.

The OCC’s press release indicates that as part of the transaction, SoFi Bank, N.A. is acquiring Golden Pacific Bank, National Association, an insured national bank, and will continue to offer a range of local commercial-focused loan and deposit products previously offered by Golden Pacific. … Continue Reading

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has withdrawn its lawsuit filed in D.C. federal district court in December 2020 seeking to block the OCC from granting a national bank charter to Figure Technologies Inc.  The lawsuit represented the CSBS’s third challenge to the OCC’s authority to issue special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to non-depository fintech companies or to uninsured deposit-taking fintechs. … Continue Reading

At the end of last month, the CFPB sent orders to six large technology platforms offering payment services that directs them to provide information to the Bureau about their payments products and services and their collection and use of personal payments data.

On November 5, 2021, the CFPB published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comments to inform its inquiry. … Continue Reading

Ballard Spahr attorneys have now completed a months-long project in updating and expanding a 2017 White Paper addressing bank-model lending—programs involving partnerships between banks (or savings associations) and fintech or other nonbank companies in the interstate delivery of loans.

The new White Paper, which runs 49 pages single-spaced, is designed to serve as a comprehensive survey of laws, cases and regulatory attitudes addressing bank-model lending.  … Continue Reading

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra has wasted no time in acting on comments he made at his confirmation hearing regarding the risks posed by the collection of data by large platforms.  In just his first full week as CFPB Director, the CFPB sent orders to six technology platforms offering payment services directing them to provide information to the Bureau. … Continue Reading

The Consumer Bankers Association has sent a letter to Rohit Chopra, the incoming CFPB Director, in which it urges the CFPB to adopt a larger participant rule for fintech consumer lenders.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, in addition to authority to supervise nonbank entities in the residential mortgage, private student lending, and payday lending markets, the CFPB has authority to supervise nonbank entities considered to be “a larger participant of a market for other consumer financial products or services.”  … Continue Reading

AB-1864, which took effect on January 1, 2021 and significantly expanded the powers of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, required the DFPI to establish a “Financial Technology Innovation Office.”

Adam Wright, Senior Counsel, recently joined the Department’s new Office of Financial Technology Innovation, having previously served as an enforcement attorney with the DFPI. … Continue Reading

Last week, the Federal Reserve Board published a paper on partnerships between community banks and fintech companies, “Community Bank Access to Innovation through Partnerships.”  The Fed’s publication of the paper is another indication of the increased attention that regulators are paying to bank relationships with fintechs.  It follows the publication at the end of last month of a guide by the Fed, OCC, and FDIC that is intended to assist community banks in conducting due diligence when considering relationships with fintechs.… Continue Reading

The OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board have issued a guide that is intended to assist community banks in conducting due diligence when considering relationships with financial technology (fintech) companies (Guide).

The issuance of the Guide follows the agencies’ July 2021 release of proposed interagency guidance for banking organizations on managing risks associated with third-party relationships, including relationships with financial technology-focused entities such as bank/fintech sponsorship arrangements. … Continue Reading

Maine has amended its Consumer Credit Code to target loans made using a bank partnership model.  The amendments include an anti-evasion provision under which a purported agent or service provider is deemed a “lender” subject to Title 9-A, Article 2 of Maine Revised Statutes.  Article 2 contains a licensing requirement and rate and fee limits for consumer loans.… Continue Reading