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First and Ninth Circuit decisions conflict with the Second Circuit, while the OCC has concluded that state escrow-interest laws are preempted

National bank preemption is headed toward another Supreme Court showdown. The Second Circuit has held that New York’s mortgage escrow-interest requirement is preempted, directly conflicting with the First Circuit’s decision upholding a comparable Rhode Island requirement and the Ninth Circuit’s decision allowing a similar California law to remain in effect.… Continue Reading

New Podcast Explores the Distributional Costs of Effective Consumer Regulation

Disclosure has long been one of the principal tools of consumer protection. The basic premise seems straightforward: if consumers are given better information about the terms of a transaction, they should be able to make better-informed decisions.

But what if better disclosure works differently for different consumers?… Continue Reading

In the latest episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast that we are releasing today, we explore a topic that is becoming increasingly important for financial services companies and virtually every other business operating in today’s digital economy: how privacy, cybersecurity, and AI governance can be transformed from compliance obligations into sources of customer confidence, resilience, and competitive advantage.… Continue Reading

CFPB guidance on ability to repay, immigration status, and fair lending creates a difficult compliance dilemma for creditors.

The CFPB’s June 5, 2026 statement on “Ability to Repay and Immigration Status” presents creditors with a difficult, and potentially unprecedented, compliance dilemma. The Bureau says that when creditors are required to assess a consumer’s ability to repay, they may, and in some circumstances may be required to, consider information about the consumer’s immigration status if that information bears on the consumer’s current or reasonably expected future income.… Continue Reading

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming consumer financial services. AI systems now influence decisions involving credit underwriting, fraud detection, customer service, pricing, marketing, and even personalized financial advice. While these technologies promise greater efficiency and innovation, they also raise profound questions about transparency, fairness, accountability, and consumer protection. 

In today’s episode of the award-winning Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, our host, Alan Kaplinsky (founder, chair for 25 years and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr LLP) is joined by Delicia Hand, a nationally recognized expert on digital civil rights, AI governance, and consumer protection who leads AI policy initiatives at Consumer Reports.… Continue Reading

A newly launched academic institute is seeking to influence the future direction of consumer financial services regulation by promoting a policy framework centered on consumer choice, market competition, empirical research, and innovation. In the podcast we are releasing today on Consumer Finance Monitor, our host Alan Kaplinsky (founder, former chair for 25 years and now senior counsel) interviewed Professors Todd Zywicki of George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School and Tom Miller of Mississippi State University about their newly created Institute for Consumer Financial Choice (ICFC), its mission, and its ambitious agenda.… Continue Reading

In today’s episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, we are pleased to present an audio version of the webinar we conducted on May 27, 2026 examining the CFPB’s revised final rule and its practical implications for banks, credit unions, FinTech companies, and other providers of small business credit.

During this comprehensive discussion, our host, Alan Kaplinsky (founder, former Practice Group Leader for 25 years and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group) was joined by his Ballard Spahr colleagues Richard Andreano and John Culhane, along with two distinguished guest panelists: Bradley Blower, Principal and Founder of Inclusive-Partners, LLC, and Louis Caditz-Peck, Executive Director of the Responsible Business Lending Coalition.… Continue Reading

Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving from a tool that assists human decision-making into technology capable of acting independently. The next frontier, often referred to as agentic AI or agentic commerce, envisions AI agents negotiating contracts, making purchases, authorizing payments, and completing commercial transactions with little or no human intervention.

While enormous investments are being made to develop this technology, far less attention has been devoted to an equally important question: What legal infrastructure will govern autonomous commercial transactions?… Continue Reading

The latest episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast examines a significant and coordinated regulatory initiative that could reshape anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance across the financial services industry.

In this episode, host Alan Kaplinsky and guest Celia Cohen, a partner in Ballard Spahr’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Group, analyze the joint notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the federal banking agencies Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and National Credit Union Administration—alongside a parallel proposal from Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).… Continue Reading

At a May 19, 2026 Ballard Spahr webinar, “Cutting Out the Middleman: The Surge in FinTech Applications to Charter Banks, Industrial Banks and National Trust Companies,” a distinguished panel of banking, fintech, crypto, and consumer financial services experts explored one of the most important developments currently reshaping the financial services industry: the growing movement by fintech companies, payments firms, lenders, and crypto-native businesses to obtain their own banking charters rather than relying on traditional bank partnerships.… Continue Reading