We recently wrote about the new policy statement issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “that the presence of an issuer-investor mandatory arbitration provision will not impact decisions whether to accelerate the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Act.” This reverses the agency’s previous position that it would not use its authority to accelerate the effective date of a company’s registration statement when the company’s governing documents contained a mandatory arbitration provision covering disputes under the federal securities laws.… Continue Reading

NCUA Chairman Kyle S. Hauptman said that through the issuance of a policy statement he is reenforcing an agency policy to prohibit officials from setting new policy through enforcement actions.

Hauptman said that the policy statement fulfills a goal he listed in January, after being appointed Chairman: “Codifying our procedures to protect Americans from regulation-by-enforcement.… Continue Reading

Saying that the federal government shutdown makes it impossible for them to work on the case, Justice Department attorneys are asking a federal appeals court to delay its response to a request for an en banc hearing in the lawsuit challenging mass firings at the CFPB.

“At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, the appropriations act that had been funding the Department of Justice expired and appropriations to the Department lapsed,” the attorneys told the U.S.… Continue Reading

The FDIC and the OCC have issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to establish a standard definition for what constitutes an “unsafe or unsound practice.”

“Too often, examiners focus on a litany of process-related items that are unrelated to a bank’s current or future financial condition,” Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill said, in a statement outlining the NPRM, which was unanimously adopted by the agency board. … Continue Reading

We are pleased to share a new podcast episode, which was taken from our September 9, 2025, webinar featuring Malini Mithal, Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Financial Practices. Malini has been a valued guest on our podcast in past years, and this session provided another timely and insightful discussion.… Continue Reading

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

The FDIC and the OCC have approved the joint publication of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would codify the removal of reputational risk from their supervisory programs.

“Examining for reputation risk can result in agency examiners implicitly or explicitly encouraging institutions to restrict access to banking services on the basis of examiners’ personal views of a group’s or individual’s political, social, cultural, or religious views or beliefs, constitutionally protected speech, or politically disfavored but lawful business activities,” the FDIC staff said, in a memo.… Continue Reading

The two Democratic NCUA board members ousted by President Trump without cause are asking the Supreme Court to consider their challenge of the firings on an expedited basis.

Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka are challenging their firings even though the Federal Credit Union Act, unlike some federal laws governing other financial regulators, does not state that members of the agency board may only be removed for cause.… Continue Reading

The podcast show we are releasing today is a repurposing of part 2 of a webinar we produced on August 13, 2025, which explored the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal 6-3 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a ruling that significantly curtails the use of nationwide or “universal” injunctions. A universal injunction is one which confers benefits on non-parties to the lawsuit.… Continue Reading

As previously reported, in June 2025 the CFPB issued an interim final rule extending the compliance dates for the section 1071 small business data collection and reporting rule. The CFPB has now issued a final rule with the same extended compliance dates provided for in the June interim final rule.… Continue Reading