Democrat Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut recently introduced legislation to allow state attorneys general and other state law enforcers to issue subpoenas during the course of investigations regarding compliance with state law by national banks. The Accountability for Wall Street Executives Act of 2017 would clarify that state attorneys general have authority to conduct visitorial oversight of federally-chartered national banks. It also would revise language in the National Bank Act that the Supreme Court interpreted as limiting the visitorial powers of state law enforcers when addressing compliance with state law by national banks. Additionally, the measure would permit subpoenas for suspected violations of real estate lending laws. “With ...

New Chief of Staff at CFPB was Staff Director of the House Financial Services Committee. The CFPB named a new chief of staff Jan. 5: Kristen Sutton Mork, who’s leaving her post as staff director of the House Financial Services Committee. The announcement did not come from the CFPB – it came from Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the HFSC, who mentioned it in an email sent to members of the media.... Republican Senator Wants Leandra English Investigated. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, reportedly has asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to probe Leandra English’s move to “burrow” into a “career position” at the CFPB. One major broadcast news organization, citing a letter from Johnson, reported last week that Johnson asserted her move was “hastily approved” as part of “a flawed vetting process” in the wake of President Trump’s election. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Syncora Guarantee, Inc., an insurer of structured-finance transactions, has settled a long-running dispute with Greenpoint Mortgage Funding over hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on bundles of soured home-equity mortgages held in trust.

Mortgage lenders and servicers chalked up a win following a federal appeals court decision that would make it harder for the government and whistleblowers to pursue a claim under the False Claims Act.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has joined four other circuits in raising the bar for arguing government cases under the federal False Claims Act, potentially making it harder for the government or whistleblowers to pursue such claims against FHA lenders.

The legal wheels continue to turn in the personal efforts of CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English to overturn President Trump’s appointment of Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to serve simultaneously as acting director of the bureau. More activity is slated this week before Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit earlier this year. Additional legal briefs are due and a hearing has been scheduled. Despite losing in her bid for a temporary restraining order, English has since filed for a preliminary injunction to prevent defendants Trump and Mulvaney from “appointing, causing the appointment of, or recognizing the appointment of an acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection ...

When Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney assumed control of the CFPB as acting director last month, he suggested he would like to see the bureau be less adversarial towards the financial services industry and be more accommodating. Since then, the bureau under Mulvaney’s directorship has pulled in its claws somewhat in a few enforcement actions, at least one of which is mortgage related. In this particular case, back in the spring of 2015, the CFPB sued Ohio-based Nationwide Biweekly Administration, Loan Payment Administration, and their owner, Daniel Lipsky, in federal district court. The regulator had accused them of misrepresenting the interest savings consumers would achieve through a biweekly mortgage payment program and misleading consumers about its cost....

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, who recently raised some questions about the ethics standards that apply to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney and members of his Office of Management and Budget staff who are doing double duty with both agencies, also has some questions about how certain record-keeping and communication requirements are going to be carried out in the unusual set-up. “Given the dual roles for Mr. Mulvaney and his staff, I am also concerned about record-keeping and other procedures in place to ensure that their work remains separate and subject to appropriate Presidential Records Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other recordkeeping and transparency requirements, and is categorized correctly for these purposes,” Warren said. Her concerns were raised in a ...

Democrat state attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia wrote President Trump earlier this month, vowing to ramp up their enforcement efforts if the bureau backs off under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, and taking issue with his appointment to the position. “As you know, state attorneys general have express statutory authority to enforce federal consumer protection laws, as well as the consumer protection laws of our respective states,” the AGs said. “We will continue to enforce those laws vigorously regardless of changes to CFPB’s leadership or agenda.” They reminded the president that, as attorneys general, they retain broad authority to investigate and prosecute individuals or companies that deceive, scam or otherwise harm consumers. “If incoming CFPB leadership ...

It’s Official: Cordray is Running for Governor in Ohio. After months of rumors and speculation, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray recently declared his candidacy for governor in his home state of Ohio. Although he faces at least four rivals for the Democrat nomination, at least one observer in the state considers him the instant favorite.... Mulvaney, Trump and Wells Fargo. Since Mick Mulvaney assumed the directorship of the CFPB, he has imposed a 30-day freeze on all new bureau regulations, and reportedly stopped all new contracting and all new lawsuits, has installed his aides into important positions at the agency, and temporarily froze all payments from the bureau’s civil penalty fund....