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Senate Committees Begin Review Of Virtual Currency Regulation
This week, two Senate Committees—Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs—held hearings to hear from regulators and other stakeholders about how virtual currencies fit within the existing regulatory framework, and to assess whether there is a need to alter that framework in response to potential risks presented by emerging virtual currency technologies. The hearings followed an inquiry initiated by Senate Homeland Security leaders over the summer. Senators who participated in the hearings did not indicate any desire to move quickly to establish new federal regulations to address potential risks presented by innovation in virtual currencies. Rather, the lawmakers generally expressed a desire not to inhibit continued innovation, while supporting market participants who want to play by the rules and protecting the market from those who do not. In both hearings, FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery described her agency’s ability to address the BSA/AML and terrorism financing risks presented by virtual currencies by employing FinCEN’s existing statutory authority and regulatory tools. Similarly, during the Senate Banking hearing, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors expressed confidence in the ability of state regulators to address consumer protection and other risks posed by virtual currencies through the existing state regulatory framework and processes. Still, committee members raised broader questions about the how to define or categorize virtual currencies (e.g. as a currency versus as a security) and the impact of such a classification on a range of other issues including monetary policy and tax administration. The breadth of the issues, which may need to be addressed by a range of government actors, formed the basis of Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tom Carper’s (D-DE) call for a “whole government” approach to virtual currency.
CFPB Report Claims Financial Education Efforts Insufficient
On November 18, the CFPB published a report that examines the amount of money spent by financial institutions to inform and influence consumers’ decisions about financial products and services. The study analyzed spending over a one year period and found that financial institutions spend 25 times more money marketing financial products and services to consumers than on educating consumers about them, which the CFPB asserts highlights the need to improve consumers’ access to objective information. The report relays detailed findings about financial education spending across six major sectors and about annual spending on awareness advertising and direct marketing of financial products and services.
Freddie Mac Withdraws Fraud Training Requirement, Updates Various Selling Requirements
On November 15, Freddie Mac issued Bulletin 2013-23, which withdraws recently announced fraud training requirements and describes various changes to other requirements. Citing the need to assess industry feedback, Fannie Mae withdrew Bulletin 2013-18, which required, among other things, that seller/servicers provide third-party vendors retained to perform functions relating to origination and servicing of mortgages with training on fraud prevention, detection, and reporting. In addition, Bulletin 2013-23 (i) updates payment history verification requirements for manually underwritten mortgages; (ii) announces that previously announced eligibility requirements applicable to higher-priced mortgage loans (HPMLs) are applicable to higher-priced covered transactions (as defined in the CFPB ability to repay/qualified mortgage rule) and not solely to HPMLs; (iii) updates certain requirements for Freddie Mac Relief Refinance Mortgages; (iv) updates requirements for verifying tax information for borrowers with income derived from sources in Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands; and (v) clarifies signature requirements for security instruments.
FHFA OIG Recommends Changes To Fannie Mae Short Sale Oversight
On November 20, the FHFA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report critical of Fannie Mae’s oversight of its short sale process and the servicers who participate in that process. The OIG determined—based on a review of 41 short sale transactions handled by multiple Fannie Mae servicers—that five servicers were not always collecting all of the required documentation before making borrower eligibility determinations or seeking Fannie Mae approval. The report states also that servicers sometimes failed to conduct adequate reviews supporting borrower eligibility determinations. Further, the OIG found that borrowers with potentially significant financial resources sold multiple non-owner occupied properties through Fannie Mae’s streamlined documentation program, which allows servicers to approve short sales based only on low FICO scores and delinquency status. The OIG recommends that Fannie Mae strengthen its oversight of the short sale program by (i) enforcing the requirement that all borrowers outside the streamlined documentation program provide a borrower-certified borrower assistance form; (ii) establishing controls to identify and resolve inconsistencies between the borrower assistance form and supporting documentation; (iii) considering whether its servicer compensation structure should include the quality of borrower eligibility determinations for short sales and success in limiting losses; and (iv) enhancing controls over collection and use of electronic information from servicers on the financial condition of borrowers. The OIG also suggests that the FHFA should: (i) determine whether the streamlined documentation program should be available to borrowers seeking approval to short sell non-owner occupied properties; and (ii) provide examination coverage of Fannie Mae’s short sale activities with particular emphasis on identifying systemic deficiencies related to borrower submissions, Fannie Mae eligibility determinations, servicer compensation structure, and reliability of electronic information used in managing short sales.
Federal Reserve, CFPB Announce Increased Consumer Credit, Lease Transaction Thresholds
On November 20, the Federal Reserve Board and the CFPB announced an increase in the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (TILA) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing) for exempt consumer credit and lease transactions. Transactions at or below the thresholds are subject to the protections of the regulations. Based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers as of June 1, 2013, TILA and Consumer Leasing Act generally will apply to consumer credit transactions and consumer leases of $53,500 or less beginning January 1, 2014. Private education loans and loans secured by real property remain subject to TILA regardless of the amount of the loan.
OCC Continues OTS Integration, Rescinds OTS Compliance Documents
On November 20, the OCC announced in Bulletin 2013-34 that as part of its ongoing implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act’s mandate that the OCC integrate Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) policies with existing OCC policies, the OCC is rescinding the OTS compliance documents listed in an appendix provided with the announcement. A second appendix lists OCC policy guidance that the OCC is applying to federal savings associations in cases where policy guidance did not already exist. The announcement does not cover OTS policies and guidance related to the FCRA, the CRA, UDAP, or mortgage regulations, which the OCC plans to address at a later date.
Florida Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal Of State Qui Tam FCA Lawsuit Alleging Failure To Pay Stamp Tax Upon Assignment
On November 21, the Florida First District Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a qui tam false claims act lawsuit against a lender, securitization trust, and MERS for the recovery of allegedly unpaid documentary stamp taxes associated with certain assignments of mortgage notes. Stevens v. State of Florida, No. 1D13-1206, 2013 WL 6097312 (Fl. Ct. App. Nov. 20, 2013). Appellants, two Florida residents, sought to recover the alleged unpaid taxes on behalf of the State of Florida as relators under the Florida False Claims Act (FFCA), as well as a cut of the recovered proceeds. But the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s determination that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the FFCA to address Appellants’ claims. Specifically, the First District found that Florida’s Tax Act—not the FFCA—governed private actions like Appellants’ where a plaintiff sought recovery for a failure to pay taxes. Analyzing the Tax Act and FFCA under well-settled principles of statutory construction, including that specific statutes trump general statutes and that legislatures are presumed to be aware of existing laws when they pass new ones, the court of appeals determined that the Tax Act, which vests the Florida Department of Revenue with the power to compensate tax whistleblowers, precluded Appellants’ FFCA claim. BuckleySandler attorneys Matthew Previn, Andrew Louis, and Bradley Marcus represented the lender, GE Money Bank, which is now known as GE Capital Retail Bank, in the successful lower court action and subsequent successful appeal.
Federal Court Allows FDIC D&O Suit Involving Business Judgment Rule To Proceed
On November 14, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia denied motions to dismiss filed by former officers and directors of a failed federal thrift who allegedly contributed to the bank’s collapse by failing to exercise due diligence and monitor the bank’s relationship with a third party mortgage loan originator. FDIC v. Baldini, No. 12-0750, 2013 WL 6044412 (S.D. W.Va. Nov. 14, 2013). The former bank officers and directors moved to dismiss the FDIC’s negligence claims, filed as conservators for the failed thrift, arguing that the business judgment rule operates as a substantive rule of law that immunizes the directors and officers from liability for the alleged ordinary negligence. The court held that it is too early in the case to decide whether the officers and directors are entitled to business judgment rule protection. The court reasoned that determining whether the rule applies requires a fact-intensive investigation that is not appropriate for resolution on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. The court noted that even if the rule applies, the FDIC should be permitted an opportunity to rebut that presumption. The court also held that the FDIC’s claims satisfy Twombly and Iqbal pleading requirements by sufficiently alleging that the directors and officers “essentially abdicated oversight completely” in the context of the thrift’s relationship with the third-party broker, which the court held was enough to support claims of not only ordinary, but gross negligence.
SCOTUS Agrees To Hear Challenge To Securities Class Actions "Fraud On The Market" Theory
On November 15, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the long-standing “fraud-on-the-market” theory, on which securities class actions often are based. Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund Inc., No. 13-317, 2013 WL 4858670 (Nov. 15, 2013). Halliburton petitioned the Court after an appeals court relied on the theory to affirm class certification in a securities suit against the company, even after the appeals court acknowledged that no company misrepresentation affected its stock process. As explained in the petition, the theory at issue derives from the Court’s holding in Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988) that a putative class of investors should not be required to prove that they actually relied in common on a misrepresentation in order to obtain class certification and prevail on the merits. The petitioner argues that Basic instead allows putative class members to invoke a classwide presumption of reliance based on the concept that all investors relied on the misrepresentations when they purchased stock at a price distorted by those misrepresentations. Halliburton has asked the Court to determine (i) whether the Court should overrule or substantially modify the holding of Basic, to the extent that it recognizes a presumption of classwide reliance derived from the fraud-on-the-market theory; and (ii) whether, in a case where the plaintiff invokes the presumption of reliance to seek class certification, the defendant may rebut the presumption and prevent class certification by introducing evidence that the alleged misrepresentations did not distort the market price of its stock.
Louisiana Appellate Court Addresses Personal Jurisdiction Based On Out-Of-State Website Sales
On November 5, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit, affirmed a trial court’s holding that it lacked personal jurisdiction over a dispute that involved only one sale of goods over the Internet to a Louisiana-based customer. BioClin BV v. MultiGyn USA, LLC, No. 2012-CA-0962, 2013 WL 5935233 (La. Ct. App. Nov. 5, 2013). A Dutch company appealed a trial court’s decision to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction the company’s suit against a Florida based web-retailer for infringement. On appeal, the court affirmed, holding that the company failed to establish that the defendant’s one-time sale of goods into Louisiana over the Internet subjected the defendant to that state’s courts, and that “extenuating personal jurisdiction would not comport with the notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Relying on the sliding scale established in Zippo Mfg. Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc., 952 F. Supp. 1119, to assess whether a website has minimum contacts with a forum state sufficient to invoke personal jurisdiction, the appeals court explained that the “mere creation of a website, does not constitute purposeful availment of the forum benefits,” nor does a one-time sale of goods through that website into the state.