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James Stevens

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James is the co-leader of the firm’s Financial Services Industry Group. He has significant experience working with clients across the entire financial services sector, regularly working with public and private companies such as banks, neobanks, marketplace lenders, and other fintech and financial services providers and partners.

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On March 29, the Federal Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in collaboration with other federal agencies, issued a Notice and Request for Information and Comment (Notice and Request) seeking public comment on its proposal to amend the Customer Identification Program (CIP) Rule requirement for banks to collect a taxpayer identification number, among other information, from a U.S. customer prior to opening an account. Usually, for a U.S. customer this requires banks to collect a full Social Security number (SSN). The amendment comes in response to pressure from fintechs, specifically providers of buy-now, pay-later products that rely on bank partners, for an accommodation from the CIP Rule.

Today, a divided Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Board of Directors issued a proposed Statement of Policy (SOP) on bank merger transactions that would create a combined bank with more than $100 billion in assets. The proposed SOP would replace the FDIC’s current SOP on bank merger transactions and proposes a principles-based overview that describes…

On March 12, at the Institute of International Bankers Annual Washington Conference, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu discussed the importance of operational resilience in the banking sector and hinted that potential regulations aimed to promote the same may be forthcoming.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently announced a consent order with Tennessee-based Lineage Bank containing orders relating to the bank’s third-party risk management program and its financial technology (fintech) partners.

James Stevens, co-leader of Troutman Pepper’s Financial Services Industry Group, was quoted in the February 27, 2024 Vixio article, “Georgia Clarifies Merchant Acquirer Law as Firms Submit First Applications in a Decade.”

“There is at least one large company that is seriously considering filing an application. And we have had a number of…

As discussed here, on October 24, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finally issued their long-awaited final rule modernizing how they assess lenders’ compliance under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The CRA regulations had not been updated since 1995.

On January 29, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding its review of business combinations under the Bank Merger Act (BMA). Specifically, the OCC proposed: (i) amendments to 12 C.F.R. § 5.33 to remove provisions related to expedited review and the use of streamlined business combination applications subject to BMA review; and (ii) the adoption of an official policy statement setting forth general principles the OCC will use in its review of applications subject to the BMA. If adopted as proposed, the rulemaking will likely lead to longer approval timelines for certain national bank transactions, particularly for mergers involving well-managed, well-capitalized community banks, internal corporate reorganizations, and branch acquisitions that would have otherwise been able to take advantage of expedited review. Currently, assuming certain criteria are met, a BMA filing that qualifies as a business reorganization eligible for a streamlined application is deemed approved on the 15th day after the close of the comment period, unless the OCC notifies the applicant that the filing is not eligible for expedited review or the expedited review process is extended. However, if the rulemaking is adopted as proposed, § 5.33 would be amended to remove the procedures for expedited review and the use of streamlined applications.