Archive

CFPB KICKS ENFORCEMENT INTO HIGH GEAR

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will name Eric Halperin, a longtime consumer advocacy attorney and former official with the U.S. Department of Justice during the Barack Obama administration, to serve as its new enforcement director. This is according to original reporting at Bloomberg Law, based on conversations with internal CFPB sources who wished to remain unnamed. It is expected that Halperin will be appointed by CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in the coming days, according […]

HUD ENFORCING BAN ON DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER IDENTITY OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION

On February 11, 2021 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a memorandum titled Implementation of Executive Order 13988 on the Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. On January 20, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13988 on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. The Executive Order addresses the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bostock v Clayton County, which held that the prohibitions against sex discrimination […]

OCC FINALIZES FAIR ACCESS RULE

On January 14, 2021, Brian Brooks, Comptroller of the Currency, issued a final rule establishing standards that a bank must follow in fulfilling its obligation to provide fair access to financial services.  The final rule is effective on April 1, 2021. The final rule applies to banks with $100 billion or more in total assets. The OCC interprets “fair access to financial services” to recognize its broad responsibility to ensure that banks make decisions about […]

CFPB FEELING PRESSURE FROM NINE-YEAR DELAY IN ISSUING REGULATIONS

Section 1071  of the Dodd-Frank Act required the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue rules, by July 21, 2011, to implement requirements for HMDA-like data collection and reporting for small businesses and for women-owned and minority-owned businesses. Recently the California Reinvestment Coalition, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and two individual small business owners filed suit seeking a declaration that the CFPB’s failure to issue regulations implementing Section 1071 violates the Administrative […]

ONEWEST BANK REDLINING CASE

On July 29, 2019 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it has approved a Conciliation Agreement between the California Reinvestment Coalition and CIT Group, Inc., and CIT Bank, N.A., dba OneWest Bank, resolving allegations that the bank engaged in lending discrimination by “redlining” in the Los Angeles region. OneWest Bank is a retail bank with 60 branches in Southern California. The complaint, filed by the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC), alleged […]