Articles
FTC Publishes Annual Performance Report
The Federal Trade Commission published its Fiscal Year 2020 Performance Report as required under the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010. The report documents the progress made by the Commission in achieving the mission and performance goals established in the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Performance Plan. Also, as required by the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act during a transition in administration, the Commission will submit its Fiscal 2021-2022 Performance Plan along with its Fiscal Year 2022 budget request in support of the President’s FY 2022 budget for the federal government later this year.
CFPB Changes Expected As Biden Administration Settles In
As reported, President-elect Joe Biden nominated Rohit Chopra, a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), replacing Kathy Kraninger as director (who remains in her post in a term that technically runs through 2023, but is likely to be replaced by Biden).
Digital loans: Credit lending landscape in the post COVID-19 world
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet but we have hopefully moved beyond its worst phase and with several vaccines faring well in clinical trials, the hopes of the economies bouncing back have become strong. As a consequence of the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, credit uptake all around the world had witnessed a very lean period but momentum in economic activity has been recorded in the past few months. In fact, a recent market analysis suggests that credit lending is nearing 80 percent of its pre-COVID-19 level.
Credit Union Fraud Falls in 2020
Credit union insider fraud cases did not take a holiday in 2020, but they substantially declined, presumably because of the coronavirus economic and health crisis. There were 10 internal fraud cases, and three former credit union employees who were convicted and sentenced for embezzlement/theft crimes, for a total of 13 fraud cases this year prosecuted in federal, state or local courts. That number is quite low compared to 2019, when there were an estimated 15 insider fraud cases and 17 former credit union employees who were convicted and sentenced for embezzlement/theft crimes, for a total of 32 criminal cases. External fraud cases that victimized credit unions were not counted in these totals.
Biden picks Gary Gensler to lead SEC, Rohit Chopra to helm CFPB
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Gary Gensler to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission and Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the campaign announced Monday. Gensler is the former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is a former partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chopra currently serves on the Federal Trade Commission, and as an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren formerly worked as student-loan watchdog at the CFPB.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Sues 1st Alliance Lending, LLC and Its Principals for Alleged Unlawful Mortgage Lending Practices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) filed a lawsuit against 1st Alliance Lending, LLC, John Christopher DiIorio, Kevin Robert St. Lawrence, and Socrates Aramburu for allegedly engaging in various unlawful mortgage-lending practices. 1st Alliance, based in Hartford, Connecticut, originated residential mortgages from 2004 to September 2019 and stopped operating in November 2019. DiIorio was its chief executive officer and he, St. Lawrence, and Aramburu were 1st Alliance’s three managing executives.
Attorney General Becerra Sues U.S. Department of Education for Easing Oversight of For-Profit Colleges
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today announced a lawsuit against Acting U.S. Secretary of Education Mitchell Zais and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) over ED’s effort to ease oversight and accountability on for-profit colleges at the expense of students and taxpayers. ED’s recently finalized “Distance Education and Innovation” regulations allow colleges to bypass requirements set out in the Higher Education Act intended to prevent federal Title IV funds, including federal student loans and Pell grants, from going to low-quality educational programs and predatory for-profit institutions.
OCC Finalizes Rule Requiring Large Banks to Provide Fair Access to Bank Services, Capital, and Credit
WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released its finalized rule to ensure fair access to banking services provided by large national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign bank organizations.