Legal issues and news

The penalty by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a major setback for the San Francisco bank, which was freed from a separate anti-money-laundering order in 2021. Its stock price fell sharply after the news broke.

The law that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stipulates that the agency must be funded by the central bank's earnings. But, the Fed has been losing money for two years. Therefore, its payments to the agency are not legal.

Banks and consumers report fraud at higher rates than they did before the pandemic, and those cases have continued getting costlier.

The bureau studied mail theft-related check fraud and found that fraudsters often know to manipulate checks and avoid branches.

Reports of fraud committed against financial companies are on pace to, for the first time, fall this year compared with 2023. Consumer reports of fraud are also down.

A company spokesperson said the company reviews fraud-related issues and refers them to law enforcement "as appropriate."

A survey of 135 financial services companies conducted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a subsidiary of LexisNexis, found that a vast majority reported increased levels of fraud in 2023.

The American Bankers Association says a proposal to replace its own financial security identifier with one owned by Bloomberg exceeds the agencies' statutory authority and could disrupt financial markets.

Diane Offereins retired from a top job last year amid scrutiny of the card network's charges to merchants. Now she's suing Discover over its decision to cancel unvested stock worth $7 million.