Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other regulatory, legislative, litigation, and industry developments, (Jul 24, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

A weekly roundup of other items of interest to the banking and finance law community.

BANKING OPERATIONS—The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adopting a final rule to update website and contact information in certain parts of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Additionally, OFAC is amending one CFR part to update general licenses authorizing payments for legal services from funds originating outside the United States to replace the reporting requirement in the general license with a recordkeeping requirement and correcting typographical errors in two CFR parts. OFAC is also updating its regulations to correct a cross-reference. The rule is effective July 27, 2026.

BANK SECRECY ACT—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is extending the comment period for the referenced notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) it published that would amend the existing definition of Huione Group to include H-Pay Service PLC and add and define the term “successor entity” (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Jun. 24, 2026). FinCEN is extending the comment period because of a technological issue with the portal that prevented the public from electronically filing comments to this NPRM for multiple days. Comments on the NPRM must be submitted on or before August 2, 2026.

CAPITAL AND BASEL ACCORDS—The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is inviting comments on the renewal of an existing information collection, Regulatory Capital Rules. The collection comprises the recordkeeping, reporting, and disclosure requirements associated with minimum capital requirements and overall capital adequacy standards for insured state nonmember banks, state savings associations, and certain subsidiaries of those entities. The FDIC, with the other federal banking agencies, has also published a notice of proposed rulemaking that, once finalized, will revise this information collection (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, May 21, 2026). Comments are due by August 24, 2026.

LOANS—Upstart Holdings, Inc., self-described as “the leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace,” announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted conditional approval for the company to establish Upstart Bank, N.A. The charter would allow Upstart to reduce operational, regulatory, and financial complexity for itself as well as for its third-party capital partners. The conditional approval follows Upstart’s application, submitted in March 2026. Upstart Bank, N.A. is expected to be based in Delaware, will not have physical branches, and will be able to originate loans to consumers nationwide and accept Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured deposits.

OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION—Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) have asked Barclays Group Chairman Nigel Higgins for more detail on the bank’s review and handling of former chief executive officer Jes Staley’s professional and personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. In a July 22 letter, they questioned Barclays board’s scrutiny of Staley before and during his tenure, the bank’s statements to United Kingdom (U.K.) regulators, and the governance implications for a banking organization operating under United States charters and licenses. The lawmakers describe a gap between Barclays’ 2019 regulatory communications and later reporting. In October 2019, they wrote, Barclays told U.K. financial regulators that Staley had confirmed he did not have a close relationship with Epstein and was resolute that he had not seen anything suggesting Epstein’s alleged criminal conduct. The legislators said extensive reporting showed Staley and Epstein maintained a close professional and personal relationship for nearly two decades, including during Staley’s Barclays tenure. “Barclays’ apparent failure to meaningfully investigate or address Staley’s relationship with Epstein raises significant governance questions regarding the bank’s ability to hold senior executives accountable for wrongdoing,” they wrote. The letter asks Barclays to respond by August 5, 2026.

Companies: Barclays Group; Barclays PLC; Barclays US LLC; JPMorgan; Upstart Holdings, Inc.

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