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  • Department of Labor Publishes Final Rule to Define Fiduciary of an Employee Benefit Plan

    Consumer Finance

    On April 7, the Department of Labor issued a final rule defining who is a fiduciary investment advisor of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The Final Rule requires financial advisors and brokers handling 401(k) accounts, as well as Individual Retirement Accounts and Annuities (IRAs), to “put their clients’ best interest before their own profits.” The final rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on April 8. Compliance with the rule is not required until April 10, 2017, providing “adequate time” for financial services and other services providers affected by the rule to adjust their statuses from non-fiduciary to fiduciary.

    Broker-Dealer Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

  • FCC Reveals Consumer Broadband Labels; CFPB Director Cordray Weighs In

    Consumer Finance

    On April 4, the FCC released new broadband disclosure labels for Internet services. According to the FCC, consumers submit more than 2,000 complaints annually related to surprise fees associated with consumers’ Internet service bills. Specifically designed for mobile broadband services and fixed broadband services, the newly released labels “will provide consumers with more information on service speed and reliability and greater clarity regarding the costs of broadband services, including fees and other add-on charges that may appear on their bills.”

    In coordination with the FCC to provide greater transparency to consumers using broadband services, CFPB Director Cordray likened the broadband disclosure labels to the CFPB’s “know before you owe” initiative, noting that, “[c]onsumers must be able to understand the terms of the agreement, and if there are options, they need to be able to comparison shop for the best deal.”

    FCC

  • Boston Fed President Comments on the Ever-Changing Nature of Cyber Risk

    Privacy, Cyber Risk & Data Security

    On April 4, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s President Eric S. Rosengren delivered remarks at the 2016 Cybersecurity Conference. Rosengren commented on the status of the U.S. economy and the “ever-changing” nature of cyber risk. According to Rosengren, risks in the cyber realm, unlike those related to the economy, are not waning. Significant cyber risk points outlined in Rosengren’s remarks include: (i) banks are increasingly having to compete with “fintech” entities providing similar financial services without the regulatory burden of being a bank; (ii) rapid growth in new applications and devices may provide consumer convenience, but do not always focus on security issues at large; and (iii) implementation of a communication plan addressing customer, vendor, and regulator concern in light of a breach is critical to mitigating problems. Finally, Rosengren cautioned that, “[b]anking organizations need to continue to evolve as [cyber risks] morph, and as new innovations and expectations of convenience introduce new challenges to security.”

    Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Federal Reserve Fintech

  • FTC Releases 2015 Annual Highlights

    Privacy, Cyber Risk & Data Security

    On April 6, the FTC released its 2015 Annual Highlights report, which is comprised of four key sections: (i) enforcement; (ii) policy; (iii) education; and (iv) stats and data. Regarding enforcement highlights in 2015, the report covers a range of administrative and court actions related to, among other things, technological innovations that pose fraud and security risks, the security of consumers’ personal identifiable information, and alleged payday loan scams. Significant actions summarized in the enforcement section include the FTC’s (i) December settlement with a leading U.S.-based hotel and resort chain resolving charges that its data security practices were unfair and deceptive; (ii) Operation Ruse Control, a nationwide cross-border crackdown designed to protect consumers from alleged fraud within the auto industry; and (iii) Operation Collection Protection, a federal, state, and local initiative implemented to combat alleged abusive and deceptive debt collection practices. The policy and education sections of the report separately highlight the agency’s efforts to provide guidance and recommendations to government bodies and lawmakers at the state and federal levels regarding best practices for implementing competition principals into proposed laws, regulations, or policies, as well as its education outreach program, such as Start with Security, a conference designed to provide companies with tips for implementing effective data security. Notably, according to the stats and data section of the report, the FTC received more than three million consumer complaints in 2015, with debt collection, “other,” and identity theft leading the numbers at 897,655, 512,022, and 490,220 complaints, respectively.

    FTC Payday Lending Debt Collection Enforcement

  • CFTC Commissioner Urges Regulators to "Do No Harm" as Blockchain Technology Develops

    Fintech

    On March 29, CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo delivered remarks before the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation 2016 Blockchain Symposium. According to Giancarlo, blockchain technology — also known as distributed ledger technology — has the ability to “revolutionize the world of finance” by potentially linking networks of legal recordkeeping in a similar fashion to how the “Internet connects data and information.” Giancarlo spent much of his remarks heralding the technology’s potential, opining that blockchain technology may (i) “be able to provide regulators with visibility into the trading portfolios of swaps counterparties that they lacked during the financial crisis and that Dodd-Frank mandated”; (ii) “make possible new ‘smart’ securities and derivatives that can value themselves in real time”; and (iii) “help market participants manage the enormous operational, transactional and capital complexity brought about by the legion of disparate mandates, regulations and capital requirements promulgated globally in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.” In light of the potential benefits of blockchain technology, the speed at which it is developing, and the vast interest it has garnered within the financial industry, Giancarlo advocated that regulators take a uniformed, encouraging, and principle-based approach toward their regulation of the industry, likening it to the “do no harm” framework implemented during the comparatively relaxed regulatory framework at the onset of the Internet. This approach will foster innovation, according to Giancarlo : “[o]nce again, the private sector must lead and regulators must avoid impeding innovation and investment and provide a predictable, consistent and straightforward legal environment. Protracted regulatory uncertainty or an uncoordinated regulatory approach must be avoided, as should rigid application of existing rules designed for a bygone technological era.”

    CFTC Digital Assets Fintech Blockchain Distributed Ledger

  • Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Proposes Amendments to the Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act

    Lending

    On April 1, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation proposed amendments to the Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987. The proposed amendments would implement uniform state test standards for mortgage loan originators (MLO) and their employees. Implementing the uniform state test standards would bring the Illinois licensing regime closer to uniformity with the majority of other states who already have adopted the same or similar standards. The amendments provide that MLOs must pass a written test developed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry prior to issuance of their state license. Previously, Illinois required employees to take a separate state test. Under the proposed amendments, pre-licensing and continuing education requirements for MLOs would be expanded to include new Illinois state law courses. Some industry groups are recommending that such courses be designed to overlap with existing federal continuing education requirements under the SAFE Act. The comment period will remain open through May 16, 2016.

    NMLS

  • Supreme Court Affirms Certification of a Class Under Fair Labor Standards Act

    Consumer Finance

    On March 22, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the certification of a class under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In so doing, the Court permitted Plaintiffs' use of expert evidence regarding a representative sample of the class to establish liability regarding the entire class. Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, No. 14-1146 (U.S. Mar. 22, 2016). In Tyson, the plaintiff employees, who worked at the kill, cut, and retrim departments of a pork processing plan, argued that the donning and doffing of certain protective gear was integral and indispensable to their work, and the defendant company’s policy to not pay for those activities violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. Because the company did not keep records of the amount of time it took employees to don and doff their protective gear, the employees primarily relied upon a sampling study performed by an expert to estimate this time frame. While the defendants did not file a Daubert challenge to this evidence, it did argue that the use of this sampling evidence was improper because the underlying question – how long it took employees in a meat packing plant to don and doff protective gear – required individual determinations that would predominate over common questions of fact. In permitting the use of the evidence, the Court stated that “[b]ecause a representative sample may be the only feasible way to establish liability, it cannot be deemed improper merely because the claim is brought on behalf of a class. [Plaintiffs] can show that [their expert’s] sample is a permissible means of establishing hours worked in a class action by showing that each class member could have relied on that sample to establish liability had each brought an individual action.” The Court did caution that Tysons did not present an “occasion for adoption of broad and categorical rules governing the use of representative and statistical evidence in class actions.” Instead, it stated that “[whether] and when statistical evidence can be used to establish classwide liability will depend on the purpose for which the evidence is being introduced and on ‘the elements of the underlying cause of action.’” The Court did not reach the substance of the second issue of the case, whether a class action or collective action may be certified or maintained when the class contains members who are not injured.

    Fair Labor Standards Act

  • Seventh Circuit Finds No Enforceable Arbitration Agreement Case Involving Chicago-Based Credit Reporting Company

    Consumer Finance

    Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion affirming a district court’s denial of a credit reporting company’s motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action. The Seventh Circuit considered whether a particular online process was sufficient to form a contract between the company and its customer. Sgourros v. TransUnion Corp., No. 15-1371 (7th Cir. Mar. 25, 2016). The plaintiff in the case purchased a credit score report from the company that he alleged was inaccurate — it was 100 points higher than a lender’s report — and therefore he alleged that the report was useless. The plaintiff sued the company under various state and federal consumer protection laws. The company sought to compel arbitration, arguing that the plaintiff had agreed to the terms of a service agreement that included a mandatory arbitration clause because he clicked on various acceptance buttons in the online ordering process. In this regard, the company took the position that the plaintiff had agreed to the terms of the service agreement by clicking the “I Accept & Continue to Step 3” button. The federal district court disagreed, concluding that no contract had been formed, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. In reviewing the matter, the appellate court found that the online presentation process was insufficient to form a contract, because the web pages did not include a clear statement that the purchase was subject to the terms and conditions of the service agreement. The court observed that no such statement appeared either in the displayed text of the agreement visible within the scroll box, or in the statement displayed below the scroll box. The company argued that there was additional language in the service agreement stating that the purchase was governed by the service agreement, and the plaintiff should be bound by that language. However, the court held that since the additional language was not readily visible unless the plaintiff scrolled the agreement or opened the printable version, it was insufficient to put him on notice that the service agreement applied to the purchase. The court also observed:

    Illinois contract law requires that a website provide a user reasonable notice that his use of the site or click on a button constitutes assent to an agreement. This is not hard to accomplish, as the enormous volume of commerce on the Internet attests. A website might be able to bind users to a service agreement by placing the agreement, or a scroll box containing the agreement, or a clearly labeled hyperlink to the agreement, next to an “I Accept” button that unambiguously pertains to that agreement. There are undoubtedly other ways as well to accomplish the goal.

    Accordingly, the Seventh Circuit found that no enforceable agreement to arbitrate arose between the company and the plaintiff and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings on the merits.

    Arbitration Credit Scores Credit Reporting Agency

  • The Panama Papers: Implications for Financial Crimes Compliance Professionals

    Federal Issues

    A group of international news outlets published a series of articles this week regarding the so-called “Panama Papers;” 11.5 million documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm specializing in creating offshore companies. Offshore companies form a well-recognized component of tax planning, but have come under increased scrutiny recently. According to the reporting, the Panama Papers reveal that a large number of foreign politicians, celebrities and other high net worth individuals used opaque structures, such as limited liability companies (LLCs), personal investment companies (PICs) and trusts, to hold (and as implied in the reporting, hide) wealth offshore. Other reporting depicts the use of the offshore PICs, trusts and/or LLCs to conduct business with sanctions targets in Iran, North Korea, and Syria. A number of international foreign financial institutions providing trust administration and wealth management services held thousands of accounts for offshore companies identified in the Panama Papers, according to the reporting.

    The information in the Panama Papers has a number of immediate implications for U.S. and foreign financial institutions:

    • First, financial institutions should anticipate that any dealings with the Panamanian law firm at issue will be the subject of regulatory scrutiny. Indeed, it has already been reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the documents for evidence of corruption that can be prosecuted in the United States, and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority has directed as many as 20 banks to provide details of accounts handled by the firm by April 15, 2016. It would not be unexpected if FinCEN and/or US regulatory authorities followed suit. Therefore, those dealings, including whether they are a customer or involved in transactions with customers, should be identified and reviewed.
    • Second, banks would be well served to review press reporting for information regarding clients involved in transactions with the Panamanian law firm, and reassess risks posed by those clients based on the information. As the press reporting is evolving daily, banks should establish a process for monitoring new information and incorporating that new information into their reviews. Additionally, in early May, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which investigated the Panama Papers, plans to publish the names of the more than 214,000 offshore entities incorporated by the Panamanian law firm and the people connected to them as beneficiaries, shareholders, or directors. Once published, this information should be included in banks’ reviews.
    • Third, the reporting calls public attention to a number of important financial crime risk issues. These include the importance of understanding beneficial ownership, especially when dealing with LLCs, trusts, and/or PICs or other potentially opaque structures, understanding the sources of a customer’s wealth (and the source of wealth of any beneficial owner(s)), conducting thorough due diligence and, in high risk areas such as high net worth individuals and politically exposed persons (PEPs), enhanced due diligence. As reported by a New York-based newspaper company on April 6, 2016, FinCEN’s Proposed Rule regarding Customer Due Diligence (see our prior analysis of this) is expected to be published within a few months.
    • Fourth, Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada provide a means to establish structures comparable to those established in Panama. Banks should evaluate whether a review of account relationships with LLCs, PICs, trusts, and other structures created in these jurisdictions may be warranted.
    • Fifth, the Panama Papers highlight the reputational risk to banks of engaging with secrecy havens (domestic and international). While the reporting thus far does not appear to allege illegality on the part of the banks, they have been put on notice that their due diligence regimes will be scrutinized in light of the Panama Papers’ revelations.

    In sum, the reporting once again highlights the potential legal and reputational risks of offering banking services (including depository and lending services, such as mortgages) to entities such as LLCs, trusts, PICs, PEPs and their close associates, and high net worth customers in the private banking context and the importance of monitoring their transactions and accounts for money laundering, tax reporting (FATCA), and corruption-related purposes.

    FinCEN Sanctions

  • Nevada Casino Operator Settles FCPA Allegations with SEC

    Federal Issues

    On April 7, the SEC settled FCPA allegations with a Nevada-based operator of numerous hotel, resort, and casino properties in the United States and Asia. In a cease and desist order, the SEC found that the operating company violated the FCPA’s internal controls and books and records provisions related to activities in China and Macau. The SEC order alleged that the operating company made more than $62 million in payments to a consultant in Asia, without supporting documentation or appropriate authorizations, and at times continued to make payments to the consultant without being able to account for prior transfers.

    The operating company consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the charges and agreed to pay a $9 million dollar penalty. In addition to the penalty, the operating company agreed to obtain an independent monitor for two years to “review its FCPA-related internal controls, recordkeeping, and financial reporting policies and procedures and its ethics and compliance functions.”

    FCPA SEC China

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