On March 5, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a Final Rule that would significantly restrict late fees that consumer credit card issuers may charge to a mere $8—representing approximately a 75% reduction from current levels. Within two days, the Final Rule faced a challenge in the Northern District of Texas by a coalition of trade groups including the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, and the Consumer Bankers Association. The challenge seeks to...

The CFPB has launched an aggressive campaign against so-called “junk fees.” This year the CFPB has released proposed rules targeting overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees and a final rule targeting credit card late fees. Along the same lines, two of the three latest editions of the Bureau’s Supervisory Highlights were marketed as special editions focused on junk fees. In this episode of our Global Financial Markets Podcast, Frank Doorley and Christa Bieker discuss what you need to know...

The end of 2023 saw a barrage of major proposals and other actions by US banking regulators. Many of these are contentious issues that have divided regulators and generated significant public controversy. Final proposals of some could be coming in 2024, but only if they can avoid being crowded out by the federal elections in the fall. Please join Mayer Brown partners Jeffrey Taft and Matt Bisanz as they discuss these proposals and how they may impact the banking industry.

Please join Mayer Brown partners Tameem Zainulbhai, Joanna Nicholas, Melissa Kilcoyne, Evan DeCresce and Jim Antonopoulos for a discussion on What to Expect in 2024 in the fields of structured finance and securitization. They will examine some key challenges and opportunities this new year will bring to market participants, and discuss trending issues and topics affecting the structured finance and securitization markets. Topics include the mortgage landscape, CLOs, trends in auto and...

The authors of our recent Legal Update provide an overview of the SEC’s (Securities and Exchange Commission) recently adopted rule, which prohibits conflicts of interest in certain securitizations as required under the Dodd-Frank Act. Although not perfect, the final rule is a significant improvement over the proposal. However, all securitization participants will need to assess their securitization programs and implement various compliance programs before the final rule becomes effective on...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently proposed an extensive framework of rules to ensure consumer access to certain information at their financial institutions. The rules would require financial institutions to make certain data relating to consumers' transactions and accounts available to consumers and authorized third parties, establish obligations for third parties accessing a consumer's data, and provide basic standards for privacy, security, and data access. Please join...

With less than 30 days until the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership reporting requirement takes effect, questions still abound. While only new entities will be subject to reporting requirements at first, thousands of those are formed every day who will need to understand—and apply—these new regulations with limited guidance. Please join Mayer Brown partners Brad Resnikoff and Matt Bisanz as they discuss some of the most pressing issues.

The US federal banking regulators recently finalized major changes to their decades-old Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations, which will have significant consequences for many US banks. Please join Mayer Brown lawyers Kerri Webb, Kris Kully, and Jeffrey Taft as they discuss: How the final regulations differ from the proposal What the final regulations could mean for large and small banks and community development activity Where banks may find opportunities for new businesses and...

While the recent US Basel Endgame proposal will affect many elements of the capital rules, it will especially impact operational risk, a new category of capital charge for most banks. Midsize and larger US banking organizations will need to develop extensive loss-event tracking and quantification systems to comply with new operational risk requirements. Smaller banking organizations, while not required to hold capital for operational risk, should consider implementing tracking systems, given...

In late July 2023, US banking agencies proposed significant revisions to the risk-based regulatory capital requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations. These proposals are critical, as the amount of capital a bank must maintain with respect to any particular loan, investment or activity is among the most significant factors in determining whether an activity is profitable, or even feasible. The proposals are not “capital neutral,” and will increase the capital charge...

While the recent US Basel Endgame proposal will affect many elements of the capital rules, it will have a particularly significant effect on market risk, where it may increase the capital requirement by more than 50%. Midsize and larger US banking organizations and others with significant trading activity also will need to develop extensive position identification, modeling, and governance systems to comply with new market risk requirements. Smaller banking organizations, while not required...

In late July 2023, US banking agencies released proposals to significantly revise the risk-based regulatory capital requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations. These proposals would have a critical impact on the banking industry, as the amount of capital a bank must maintain with respect to any particular loan, investment or activity is typically a significant—if not the most significant—factor in determining whether an activity is profitable, or even feasible. The...

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed long-term debt (“LTD”) requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations. The LTD proposal would require many regional and larger banking organizations to issue approximately $70 billion of new LTD over the three-year implementation period. Additionally, affected organizations would need to restructure their top-tier holding company activities to comply with the clean holding company requirements, and conform funding...

Since the CFPB’s small business data collection rule became effective earlier this year, small business lenders have been making plans to implement the new and extensive data collection requirements. At the same time, the final rule has been the subject of litigation, with several financial institutions and trade associations suing the CFPB to enjoin the rule’s implementation. On July 31, a Texas court granted a preliminary injunction preventing the CFPB from implementing or enforcing the...

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed extensive revisions to the regulatory capital requirements for midsize and larger US banking organizations. While these revisions will affect nearly all credit exposures, securitization exposures will be significantly affected by certain policy choices. Securitizations historically have benefited from highly favorable risk weights (albeit under strictly defined circumstances), and the revisions are expected to make this relief more...

In late July 2023, the US banking agencies released proposals to significantly revise the risk-based regulatory capital requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations and change the method for calculating the capital surcharge for global systemically important banking organizations. These proposals are of critical importance because the amount of capital a bank must maintain with respect to any particular loan, investment or activity is typically a significant—if not the...

The primary mortgage market recently has flattened, with rising interest rates and fewer homes on the market. However, these factors, coupled with home price appreciation, have created a space for alternatives to traditional residential mortgage financing. These include single family rental (SFR), rent-to-own and home equity option contracts, i-buying, and home equity lines of credits (HELOCs). Many of these products come with specific consumer regulatory and compliance requirements—plus...

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed extensive revisions to the regulatory capital requirements for midsize and larger US banking organizations. The revisions are lengthy and would change the requirements for credit, market, and operational risk. Some of the revisions are long-expected (e.g., re-evaluation of use of internal models), but others are novel (e.g., capital charge for operational risk) or driven in response to the recent banking crisis. Further, the revisions...

In recent years, the US mortgage markets have faced mounting pressure from rising interest rates, declining originations, and heightened regulation. In part two of our three-part podcast series on the current state of the US mortgage markets, Mayer Brown experts will discuss the current challenging environment for mortgage origination, as well as recent trends seen in the RMBS and CMBS securitization markets. Listeners can also expect updates on recent improvements to the Ginnie Mae...

In recent years, the US mortgage markets have faced mounting pressure from rising interest rates, declining originations, and heightened regulation, such as EU risk retention requirements. While deals continue to be struck, they are becoming increasingly complex and expensive. We have heard of a number of similar concerns from our clients with structures like warehouse finance facilities, and we have developed some ideas on how to address them through products like credit risk transfer...

The last few months have seen a steady stream of emergency actions from the US banking regulators, along with legislative proposals from the Hill, that have spurred debate over the necessity of regulatory action. Some of these changes may be foregone conclusions, but others are just the early innings of a vigorous debate. Also key will be the way that accounting rules—and changes to those rules—affect banks and influence the way regulators move forward. Please tune in to hear Mayer Brown...

Many regional and community banks in the United States are under intense pressure from economic forces beyond their control. This has led to a contraction in the lending markets, and may even shut off the spigot for some asset classes.  Some banks might look to credit risk transfer (“CRT”) trades to keep the lending pipeline open. These cutting-edge transactions keep the loans on a bank’s balance sheet, while eliminating risk from the portfolio” and providing substantial capital relief....

The last few years have seen many changes and trends in the world of trade finance—not least because of well-publicized supply-chain disruptions around the globe. These and other factors have spurred changes in traditional products and pushed new structures to the fore. Please join Mayer Brown lawyers Evan DeCresce and Patrick Healy as they discuss some hot topics in trade finance.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently waded into unexpected controversy with the release of proposed data fields for the beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reporting regime that will take effect at the beginning of next year. FinCEN’s inclusion of “Unknown” and “Unable to identify” options for several of the proposed data fields has generated concern that incomplete BOI may be less valuable for some users, such as financial institutions. These concerns stand in...