It has been a busy time for us at Explainer Things. Awards season is over, but the fintech regulatory drama is in midseason form. The star of this episode is of course the Supreme Court’s decision on the future of the CFPB....more
6/5/2024
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Community Financial Services Association of America Ltd ,
Federal Funding ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Payday Loans ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour
Spring has sprung here at Explainer Things. The Oscars have come and gone. We've set the clock forward an hour and watched as our NCAA tourney brackets all exploded. Next stop is summer vacation, when our team will be trying...more
Hard to believe 2024 marks 25 years since the Y2K panic. If Y2K means little to you, you're either too young or, like many of us at Explainer Things, you've blocked out the memories of end-of-times fearmongering and...more
Typical legal newsletters might introduce a post-Thanksgiving edition with a line or two about gratitude for readers and clients. We at Explainer Things are certainly thankful for clients and readers alike, but we are far...more
12/1/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Big Tech ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mobile Payments ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
TCPA
Our newsletter’s title is a nod to the semi-scary Netflix series Stranger Things. No surprise we are VERY excited about Halloween. You may notice that our regular pop culture references have gone horror-themed for this...more
11/3/2023
/ Banks ,
Civil Investigation Demand ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Management ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Open Banking
Fall is finally in the air as temperatures drop (in some parts of the country, at least) and football season is in full swing. We’ve previously avoided writing about football because our Explainer Things cast can’t agree on...more
10/3/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Breach ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
TCPA
It’s been the summer of the pop star—with nonstop news of Taylor Swift and Beyonce selling out stadium after stadium. Don’t let it “break your soul” as you’re “shaking off” summer and sending the kids back to school. We hope...more
Background -
Enforcement of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) Final Regulations by the California Privacy Protection Agency was put on hold June 30, 2023, by a California Superior Court, just before...more
It's the best of times and the worst of times for our pop-culture loving crew of consumer financial services lawyers. The movies are on a high with record box office receipts and stellar reviews for Barbie and Oppenheimer (or...more
8/2/2023
/ CFTC ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
IRS ,
Overdraft Fees ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
TCPA ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
♫"Summertime and the living is easy"♫ or at least we hope it is for our growing readership. Our Explainer Things team is spicing up your consumer finance news with pop culture – Dua Lipa, The Big Lebowski, The Police, and The...more
Extreme Makeover: Payments Edition?
The CFPB's General Counsel, Seth Frotman, spoke to the Innovative Payments Association at its conference this month highlighting three "areas of concern" the agency has about the rapidly...more
This season of Explainer Things is progressing nicely, don’t you think? We’ve introduced our recurring characters, like cryptocurrency, data privacy, and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. We’ve established the tone – lighthearted...more
5/5/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Influencers ,
Mobile Apps ,
Payment Systems ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Small Business Loans ,
Social Media ,
State Privacy Laws
The construction industry has experienced an amazing evolution in recent years thanks to the rapid adoption of new technologies. While all of this new technology has the potential to make companies more productive and more...more
Companies that make ransomware payments, whether they be the victim of a ransomware attack or entities that facilitate such payments, should review the updated advisory issued by U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of...more
9/28/2021
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Hackers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk-Based Approaches ,
SDN List
Vendors of health applications (“health apps”) and connected devices that collect or use individuals’ health information, along with their service providers, are now on notice that they must provide timely notice to consumers...more
Colorado just became the third state to pass a comprehensive data privacy law, creating more challenges for businesses trying to navigate a variety of state, federal, and international privacy regimes. The Colorado Privacy...more
7/19/2021
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Controller ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Digital Service Providers ,
New Legislation ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards
The New York Department of Financial Services ("NYDFS") recently released its Cyber Insurance Risk Framework (the “Framework”), which provides best practices for managing cyber insurance risk....more
2/25/2021
/ Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Information Technology ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently issued a decision with global implications for data transfers from the EU in a case referred to the CJEU from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, colloquially...more
8/5/2020
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Data Protection Board (EDPB) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Ireland ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Schrems I & Schrems II ,
Standard Contractual Clauses
Healthcare providers are under siege, not only from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also from cyber criminals. Following reports of targeted email phishing attempts, the FBI issued a FLASH alert warning healthcare providers on...more
Employer-sponsored retirement plans have long been targets for cybercriminals. Employers should be on the lookout as the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the types and likelihood of potential cyber attacks against retirement...more
Employer-sponsored retirement plans have long been targets for cybercriminals. The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the types and likelihood of potential cyber attacks against retirement plan accounts. After all, with many more...more
Among the many obstacles facing businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are new cyberattacks targeting key infrastructure and industry in the United States. ...more
4/15/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
INTERPOL ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
Beginning with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered the brave new world of stricter government regulation of consumer data. Absent a federal privacy rule that matches the GDPR in its...more
Recently, New York enacted the SHIELD (Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security) Act. The SHIELD Act becomes effective on March 21, 2020. This Practice Update provides a quick overview of:
When the SHIELD Act...more