Regulation

The penalty by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a major setback for the San Francisco bank, which was freed from a separate anti-money-laundering order in 2021. Its stock price fell sharply after the news broke.

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau increases scrutiny of earned wage access, cash-back fees and airline rewards, industry lobbyists are pushing back, while some groups cheer the move.

New rules from Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will mandate reporting for non-financed real estate transfers and expand anti-money-laundering requirements for investment advisors.

The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a consent order against Finland-based Nordea Bank, citing deficiencies related to the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering requirements.

Committee Chair Sherrod Brown is facing a tough election.

The industry-led legal challenge to new anti-redlining rules is opposed by some banks and consumer protection groups, who say the changes are necessary.

Four companies are fighting CFPB enforcement actions by claiming the agency cannot be funded by the Federal Reserve, which has not been profitable since 2022. The consumer bureau calls the new legal theory "meritless."

Regulators have been working their way steadily down from the biggest players in the industry to regional firms in their quest to stamp out abuses of "off-channel" communications.

Beneficial State Bank — which was joined by various civil rights groups — said in an amicus brief that the regulatory reforms are much-needed and that banking groups' legal challenge to the Community Reinvestment Act rules should be dismissed.

Researchers wonder if similar regulatory attention could eventually hit the bottom lines of independent broker-dealers and RIAs.