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Marina Olman-Pal is a Co-Chair of the firm’s Financial Regulatory & Compliance Practice. She advises foreign and U.S. financial institutions on a broad range of U.S. federal and state regulatory and compliance matters including licensing/chartering, acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, third-party risk management and oversight issues, BaaS and other bank/fintech-related matters, compliance with Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations, GENIUS Act and fair access law matters.

Marina counsels a wide range of companies in the financial services sector including, domestic and foreign banks, money services businesses including money transmitters, cryptocurrency businesses, Fintech companies, digital payment companies, and non-financial services companies considering new payment or digital wallet models. Throughout her career, Marina has represented clients before U.S. regulators such as the Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, FinCEN, OFAC, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and other state supervisory authorities. Marina also regularly develops anti-money laundering programs for a wide range of financial services businesses and non-financial services businesses including, U.S. and foreign companies active in industries such as real estate, hospitality, automotive and artificial intelligence, among many others.

Since taking office, President Trump reduced the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s influence by appointing Russell Vought as acting director, who paused rulemaking, enforcement, and other CFPB activities. This shift impacts bank-fintech partnerships, requiring industry adjustments.
Continue Reading The Current And Future State Of Bank-Fintech Partnerships

On Jan. 23, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. government’s request for a stay (SCOTUS Order) of the nationwide preliminary injunction of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry. According to the brief order…

Federal and state “fair access” or “anti-debanking” laws and regulations have been evolving quickly over the last five years, closely tracking the changing U.S. political climate. These laws and regulations are designed to ensure that financial institutions make their services available without discriminating against individuals or businesses engaged in lawful activity that may be viewed…

On Dec. 26, 2024, the nationwide preliminary injunction that a Texas district court issued in Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule was reinstated by the merits panel of the Fifth Circuit assigned to the appeal (a different panel…

On Nov. 21, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule (Rule), pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 5514(a)(1)(B), to establish supervisory authority over nonbank entities identified as larger participants in the general-use digital consumer payment applications market. While the CFPB already has enforcement power over digital funds transfer and payment wallet app…

A Texas district court has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction four weeks before a key Jan. 1, 2025, reporting deadline for the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) that, while in effect, enjoins enforcement of the CTA’s beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements. The Texas court explicitly stated that this injunction “should apply nationwide.”

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On Sep. 4, 2024, FinCEN published a final rule (Final Rule) adding certain RIAs and ERAs (collectively, Covered Advisers) to the definition of “financial institution” under the regulations implementing the BSA, and imposing on Covered Advisers broad AML and CFT program requirements, as well as other BSA recordkeeping and reporting requirements. The Final…

On Nov. 18, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a 45-day extension to the public comment period for its proposed rule making (Proposed Rule) that would establish new recordkeeping requirements and related compliance obligations for insured depository institutions that offer certain “custodial deposit accounts with transactional features.”

As we detailed in a prior…

On Oct. 2, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (Proposed Rule) designed to strengthen recordkeeping requirements for custodial deposit accounts with transactional features, like those often used in banking-as-a-service (BaaS) models and other bank-fintech partnerships. The Proposed Rule is intended to ensure the FDIC’s ability to promptly make…

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2024, requiring non-exempt U.S. entities and non-exempt foreign entities that are registered to do business in the United States (collectively, Reporting Companies) to submit beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports to a confidential database maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes…