The House Financial Services Committee unanimously recommended to the full House on May 9, 2019 a bill that would reform the U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) regime.  H.R. 2514, the Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology, and Examiner Reform Act of 2019 (the COUNTER Act), would amend the Bank Secrecy Act…
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On Friday, the SEC proposed a package of rule amendments and regulatory guidance regarding the cross-border application of its security-based swap (“SBS”) rules.  The proposal represents an attempt by the SEC to reconsider certain aspects of the cross-border application of SBS regulatory requirements that market participants have identified…
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A bipartisan group of 38 state and territorial attorneys general has signed an open letter to Congress calling for legislative change for banking and financial institutions wishing to provide services to cannabis businesses. The letter describes the severe financial restrictions faced by cannabis businesses that operate legally under state law…
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On May 8, 2019, the one-year anniversary of his decision to end the United States’ participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) with Iran, President Trump issued a new Executive Order “Imposing Sanctions with Respect to the Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and Copper Sectors of Iran” (the…
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On May 3, 2019, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) published A Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments (the “Compliance Framework”), a guidance document that sets forth OFAC’s views of the essential elements of an effective economic sanctions compliance program (“SCP”).  OFAC…
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The Federal Reserve has requested comment on a highly anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its regulatory framework for deciding when a company exercises a controlling influence over another company under the Bank Holding Company Act and the Home Owners’ Loan Act.

The proposal is a welcome step in…
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On Tuesday, April 30, our partner Margaret E. Tahyar will testify before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs at a public hearing regarding “Guidance, Supervisory Expectations, and the Rule of Law: How do the Banking Agencies Regulate and Supervise Institutions?”

Ms. Tahyar’s prepared testimony is available here…
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Momentum is building in Congress for federal privacy legislation and several states have their own privacy laws in the works.  But, as concerns grow that companies are collecting and sharing personal information about U.S. residents without their knowledge and not adequately protecting that data, regulators and plaintiffs aren’t waiting for…
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On April 22, 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the waivers issued to China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, which allow them to continue to import Iranian oil after the United States fully reinstated secondary sanctions against Iran last fall, will expire on May…
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