Litigation

Two bank trade groups have asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to relieve all banks from complying with its small-business lending rule until after the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether the bureau's funding is constitutional.

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from implementing its small-business data collection rule until after the Supreme Court rules next year on whether the bureau's funding is constitutional.

The Minnesota Bankers Association and Lake Central Bank jointly filed a lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over its nonsufficient funds fee rules' inclusion of "unfair or deceptive acts or practices" violations in its policy.

The group of banks would pay $68 million to settle the lawsuit, which originally estimated damages at $340 million.

Republicans have urged the Supreme Court to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by tying its funding to appropriations. But regulatory experts say that a ruling against the CFPB would threaten the funding of other similarly structured agencies including the Federal Reserve Board, the Farm Credit System and other regulators that are funded through fees or assessments.

The lawsuit against Prehired involves a relatively new product that consumer advocates say is akin to a student loan — and should be subject to far more protections.

The plaintiff that brought the case on behalf of the state says the banks inflated interest rates through a private, invitation-only VRDO index that influenced SIFMA's weekly index.

In an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court Tuesday, the bicameral group of 132 Republican members of Congress argued that an appeals court was right to rule last year that the Bureau's funding system is unlawful.

A challenge to the SEC's use of administrative law judges could have big implications for bank regulators. The FDIC, Fed, OCC and CFPB could be forced to go to federal court in cases that would otherwise be handled in-house.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges this week over allegations of operating as unregistered securities exchanges, rattling the industry but potentially lighting the way to more regulatory certainty.