Enforcement

A Senate committee approved legislation Thursday that would offer some protection from federal authorities to banks and credit unions doing business with state-authorized marijuana merchants.

WASHINGTON — Student Financial Aid Services is facing more than $5.2 million in charges after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged the company illegally signed up consumers for student financial assistance and proceeded to automatically bill them annually.

TrustCo Bank Corp NY in Glenville, N.Y., has agreed to improve corporate governance, capital planning, internal auditing and other areas after federal regulators found the issues during an examination.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a $140 million enforcement action against Banamex USA, a Citigroup subsidiary, on Wednesday for having Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering deficiencies.

Discover Financial Services will refund $16 million to consumers and pay a $2.5 million penalty to resolve U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that the bank engaged in illegal student loan servicing practices.

Identity theft protection company LifeLock is coming under fire from the Federal Trade Commission for failing to adequately protect customers' credit card and bank account data, Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal information, among other allegations.

Citibank has joined a growing list of banks and vendors that have paid a stiff penalty for allegedly using deceptive marketing and billing tactics in selling credit card add-on products. It agreed to pay $770 million in fines and restitution charges, falling just short of a record fine issued last year.

Citigroup is facing $770 million in charges after two federal regulators said the megabank engaged in deceptive marketing and unfair billing practices related to its credit card add-on products.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's massive collection of consumer data continued to raise concerns with lawmakers on Wednesday despite assurances from the agency's director that the data is anonymized. Lawmakers also voiced worries that the agency is inappropriately targeting auto dealers.

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility said it found no support for allegations that federal lawyers wrongly pursued legal online payday lenders and forced banks to cut ties with legitimate businesses.