Law and legal issues

A federal judge has put on hold a plan for mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until a new, permanent director is confirmed by the Senate. The judge's order ratifies an agreement on the issue between the CFPB and its union.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is preparing to request information from credit-card issuers about their late fees. The renewed interest in late fees is a surprise, given the agency last year sided with the banking industry to kill a Biden-era rule that would have dropped the charges from $32 to $8.

A settlement with 46 states resolves allegations that Block's Cash App engaged in deceptive marketing and failed to maintain legally mandated fraud protections. The deal also requires Block to honor an agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made in the final days of the Biden administration.

Oklahoma's Bank7 may acquire New Mexico's Century Bank by the end of the year. The reason: A wealthy Century shareholder is being forced to sell his shares to satisfy a $40 million debt.

Courts in Sweden told Google to pay price comparison website and Klarna subsidiary PriceRunner nearly $2 billion after the court found that Google favored its own price comparison service. PriceRunner initially sought more than $8 billion in damages.

The high-cost lender wants a federal court to vacate a nine-figure judgment, claiming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acted in "bad faith" by abandoning a settlement agreement that would have sharply reduced the company's payment.

The Supreme Court found that President Donald Trump did not provide Lisa Cook requisite due process when he sought to remove her from the Fed last year, and for that reason denied the White House's motion to remove her immediately.

A new lawsuit seeking class-action status alleges that FirstBank Puerto Rico knowingly facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation by failing to enforce basic anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer rules.

Critics of the OCC's broad preemption stance say the OCC is resurrecting an approach Congress curtailed after the financial crisis, setting up another Supreme Court test over the balance between federal banking powers and state consumer protections.

More than 20,000 consumers have seen their bank accounts abruptly terminated in recent months. Experts believe financial institutions are responding to the Trump administration's restrictionist immigration policies.

JPMorgan wants a judge to overturn the FINRA arbitration award it was hit with after firing one of its brokers over expenses stemming from a Super Bowl-timed client meeting.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals halted the Trump administration's attempt to fire nearly two-thirds of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's workforce, upholding a March 2025 injunction.

Banking and fintech trade groups have filed suit against the State of Oregon over a new lending law that they say unlawfully restricts interest-rate exportation by out-of-state state banks and threatens access to credit.

The Atlanta bank was ordered to pay nearly $80 million to the former head of its equipment-finance subsidiary Balboa Capital

The bank has decided it doesn't want to be at the mercy of tech companies and the price they demand for services, and is building its own "AI factory."

Federal prosecutors arrested and charged Mahender Makhijani, 44, with orchestrating a $100 million bank fraud against Western Alliance Bancorp.

Federal prosecutors have sought records and account closure data from banks as the Trump administration continues to clash with the industry.

A federal judge let fraud claims against Meta proceed, finding its AI ad tools may have helped build ads that impersonated a Bank of America executive.

Within hours of a judge's approval of an interchange settlement, merchant lobbyists were crying foul over the latest attempt to end a two decade legal fight, making references to "next steps," while analysts predicted an appeal.

The AI-powered fintech accused the neobank and buy now, pay later lender of misappropriating its trade secrets and breaching its license and loan sale agreements.