Legal issues and news

A new OCC action over the megabank's anti-money-laundering guardrails, which follows news of seemingly more severe lapses at TD Bank, is raising concerns that a broader crackdown is at hand.

The Canadian bank said it expects to recover hundreds of millions of dollars after a three-judge appeals panel found that it cannot be held liable in connection with a multibillion-dollar fraud. The ruling echoed a different appeals court's decision stemming from the collapse of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

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.

The law that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stipulates that the agency must be funded by the central bank's earnings. But, the Fed has been losing money for two years. Therefore, its payments to the agency are not legal.

Banks and consumers report fraud at higher rates than they did before the pandemic, and those cases have continued getting costlier.

The bureau studied mail theft-related check fraud and found that fraudsters often know to manipulate checks and avoid branches.

Reports of fraud committed against financial companies are on pace to, for the first time, fall this year compared with 2023. Consumer reports of fraud are also down.

A company spokesperson said the company reviews fraud-related issues and refers them to law enforcement "as appropriate."

A survey of 135 financial services companies conducted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a subsidiary of LexisNexis, found that a vast majority reported increased levels of fraud in 2023.

The American Bankers Association says a proposal to replace its own financial security identifier with one owned by Bloomberg exceeds the agencies' statutory authority and could disrupt financial markets.

Diane Offereins retired from a top job last year amid scrutiny of the card network's charges to merchants. Now she's suing Discover over its decision to cancel unvested stock worth $7 million.

Recent Supreme Court decisions reducing the ability of regulatory agencies to interpret the meaning of federal laws make it likely that supervisory decisions based on assessments of banks' safety and soundness will face court challenges.

People filmed themselves depositing bad checks, then quickly transferring or withdrawing the funds. Then they shared screenshots of their negative balances.

Mr. Cooper will be filing a motion to dismiss a data breach-related class action by Sept.13, documents show.

The indictment of Telegram's CEO has added scrutiny to the ways in which messaging apps are facilitating check fraud — and what banks can do to stop them.

Shutting down Telegram could disrupt fraudsters targeting banks, according to experts. With charges against CEO Pavel Durov, the idea appears more than hypothetical.

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 plaintiffs' 2nd Circuit filing in the Bank of America escrow preemption case is the first since the Supreme Court sent it back for more analysis.