On Jan. 10, 2023, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (“Report”) in which it identifies the year’s areas of examination focus for FINRA Member Firms (“Firms”). This is the third year for FINRA’s new reporting system, which replaced the prior format for examination focus, the…

On Jan. 3, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a joint statement (Joint Statement) that reiterates prior crypto-related guidance and highlights crypto-asset risks to banking organizations. The Joint Statement follows a…

On Nov. 9, 2022, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued a proposed second amendment to its 2017 cybersecurity regulation for financial service companies.[1] In July 2022, NYDFS issued a draft version of the changes, but the current amendment has significant changes. Most of the proposed changes will take effect 180 days…

As nonbanks comprise an ever-greater share of the consumer-finance market, on April 25, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB, or the Bureau) announced it would invoke its “unused” legal authority to examine nonbanks “that pose risks to consumers.”

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On Feb. 9, 2022, the SEC released its long-awaited proposed cybersecurity rule, and there’s a lot to unpack. As GT reported previously, the SEC increased enforcement of cybersecurity compliance in 2021. As recently as Jan. 24, 2022, Chair Gary Gensler made cybersecurity the focus of his speech at Northwestern Law School’s Securities Regulation

Natural Disasters are getting worse. In the wake of disasters such as Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Sally, and the wildfires that recently ravaged the western region of the United States, millions of Americans are seeking to donate to those impacted, and/or invest in infrastructure involved in cleanup, repair, and recovery efforts.1 Capitalizing on charity and…

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Greenberg Traurig’s Financial Services Insights. The impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been both unexpected and devastating. As the economic fallout spreads, financial institutions are faced with major challenges in how they conduct business and interact with their customers. This newsletter reviews significant cases and legal developments affecting

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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published responses to three frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) regarding customer due diligence requirements for “covered financial institutions” (i.e., U.S. banks and savings associations, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, mutual funds, brokers or dealers in securities, futures commission merchants and…

On June 25, 2020, the five commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), by a vote of three-to-two, withdrew proposed Regulation Automated Trading (Reg. AT), and by a vote of four-to-one, proposed a set of three new rules (Risk Principles) addressing electronic trading. In this process, CFTC moved substantially away from the earlier proposal,…

On August 7, 2017, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued its third National Exam Program Risk Alert of the 2017 calendar year, detailing OCIE’s findings and observations from its Cybersecurity 2 Initiative. This Cybersecurity 2 Initiative, the name for OCIE’s second round of cybersecurity examinations, builds on OCIE’s prior 2015 Cybersecurity…