The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter confirming that the National Bank Act (NBA) preempts state money transmitter licensing requirements as applied to national banks, regardless of whether the bank satisfies a state law exemption from the licensing requirement. The letter affirms settled doctrine in restating the OCC’s position that states are not permitted to require national banks to …
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Agencies Propose Customer Identification Program Requirements for Stablecoin Issuers
On June 22, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), together with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), published a joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to implement customer identification program (CIP) requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs) under the Guiding …
CFPB Rescinds Advisory Opinion on Special Purpose Credit Programs
On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded its 2020 advisory opinion “Equal Credit Opportunity (Regulation B); Special Purpose Credit Program,” which addressed regulatory uncertainty regarding the application of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s Regulation B to certain aspects of special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) “designed by for-profit organizations to meet special social needs.” The advisory opinion had clarified the content a for-profit …
Spotlight on CFPB’s Recent Statement on Ability to Pay and Immigration Status
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a statement reminding creditors that assessing a consumer’s ability to pay debt obligations under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) may warrant or require consideration of immigration status when relying on an individual’s employment income. The statement follows a recent White House executive order designed to mitigate risks to the financial system “posed by the extension of credit …
Agencies Strip Reputation Risk From Interagency Supervisory Guidance
Recently, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Reserve Board (Federal Reserve) jointly updated 15 supervisory interagency guidance documents by removing references to “reputation risk.” The updated guidance follows other agency actions to remove “reputation risk” from supervisory guidance and examinations and is part of a broader federal effort to eliminate so-called politicized or unlawful debanking. …
AI Executive Order Creates Voluntary Framework for Frontier Models, Advances Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity
On June 2, 2026, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order (EO) addressing the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. This EO has direct implications for AI developers, critical infrastructure companies, and any business operating at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. The EO directs federal agencies to take a series of actions (many within 30 to 60 days) with the purposes of upgrading …
The New Colorado AI Act: What Financial Institutions Need to Know
Colorado recently upended its landmark artificial intelligence legislation, just a month before the bill’s effective date and with days left in the legislative session. Senate Bill 26-189 (SB 189) repeals and replaces Senate Bill 24-205, the 2024 law that first established Colorado’s AI legislative framework, with a substantially narrowed scope, and pushes back the effective date to January 1, 2027. SB 189 contains a restructured …
Busy Week for AI: FCA Reopens AI Input Zone, Regulators Issue Statement on Frontier AI Cyber Risks
May 2026 has brought a flurry of AI-related activity from the UK’s financial regulators. On 14 May, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reopened its AI Input Zone to collect stakeholder views on good and poor practice in AI use cases in financial services. The following day, the Bank of England, FCA and HM Treasury published a joint statement on frontier AI models and cyber resilience. …
White House Issues Executive Orders Targeting Financial System Integrity, Fintech Innovation
On May 19, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled, “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System.” The order is designed to mitigate risks to the financial system “posed by the extension of credit or financial services to the inadmissible and removable alien population.” The order stops short of requiring firms to verify each customer’s citizenship status – a controversial move that was reportedly …
Senator Warren Challenges OCC Over Crypto Trust Charters
This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) challenging the agency’s granting of national trust charters to crypto companies “in apparent violation of the National Bank Act.” According to Warren, the nine crypto companies that have received national trust charters since December 2025 …