Banking

Federal Reserve Proposal Fails to Protect Consumers from Unauthorized Loans

August 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – In comments filed this week, Consumer Federation of America (CFA), U.S. PIRG and state consumer organizations told the Federal Reserve and other financial regulators that proposed FTC Act rules on bank overdraft “services” fail to protect cash-strapped families from high cost and unfair loans. The agencies proposed rules that require customers to opt-out of bank overdraft loans to avoid future fees.    » read more »

Measure Includes Key Provisions For Vermont’s Captive Insurance Sector

May 29, 2008 -- BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont Governor Jim Douglas has signed into law a bill making changes to Vermont’s banking and insurance laws, including key provisions for the state’s captive insurance industry.

The bill also includes measures to protect consumers by enabling Vermont to join a national licensing system for mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders.

“Through a collection of thoughtfully rendered statutory changes, this legislation ties together numerous diverse benefits to both consumers and Vermont’s financial services industries, particularly our captive insurance sector,” said Governor Douglas at a signing ceremony at Dwight Asset Management, LLC, in Burlington.    » read more »

May 22, 2008 -- "More recent preliminary information indicates that additional Connecticut financial institutions, companies and residents may be victims of this astonishing security breach by Bank of New York Mellon.

"We have received preliminary information and have demanded all of the details relevant to this shocking security breach, particularly as to the delay in notifying Connecticut authorities, as well as People's and its customers. The banks have cooperated so far in providing the information that the governor is directing the Department of Consumer Protection to seek, but we welcome this interest and concern.    » read more »

May 23, 2008 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that she has directed Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. to issue two more subpoenas related to the loss of bank customer data being transported by Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY Mellon).

The two new subpoenas concern Webster Bank and Wachovia Corp. On Thursday, Governor Rell directed Commissioner Farrell to issue subpoenas to BNY Mellon and People’s United Bank of Bridgeport.    » read more »

May Affect Hundreds Of Thousands Of CT Consumers, Millions Nationwide

May 21, 2008 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that a storage company for a New York bank lost an unencrypted backup tape containing Social Security numbers and bank account information belonging to as many as hundreds of thousands of Connecticut consumers and personal information of millions more nationwide.

Among the Connecticut consumers are depositors and investors of People's United Bank of Bridgeport, which gave Bank of New York Mellon the information so it could offer those consumers an investment opportunity.    » read more »

April 25, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is urging the chief executives of six major banks to take more robust action to help American homeowners avoid foreclosure.

In a letter to the bank executives, Senator Feinstein noted the broad economic damage caused when Americans lose their homes.

Bank of America security guards: Photo by Steve Rhodes (CC)    » read more »

Bank Secrecy Act

February 21, 2008 -- To aid law enforcement efforts against financial crimes, under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) depository institutions must file the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) currency transaction report (CTR) form on their customers' cash transactions of more than $10,000. While FinCEN's regulations allow institutions to exempt certain customers, over 15 million CTRs were filed in 2006.    » read more »