Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other regulatory, legislative, litigation, and industry developments, (May 29, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staf

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

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT—Senate Democrats warned a HUD proposal allowing time limits and work requirements for rental assistance risks worsening homelessness, in a letter that was released May 22 calling for withdrawal of the proposal. The group of 22 lawmakers—led by Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—said the rule could force adults to work up to 40 hours a week to keep benefits and allow limits as short as two years, further arguing that the rules structure exceeds its statutory authority. The also noted HUD's own analysis showing up to 90,000 people could lose assistance. They argued the policy would increase evictions, administrative costs, and housing instability for low-income families. “Notably, many of those families may lose access to housing not because they are not working, but because they are unable to keep up with new paperwork burdens or meet contradictory and sometimes impossible standards,” the group wrote, citing examples of minimum wage jobs that do not provide “consistent shift scheduling.”

ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has announced enforcement actions for May 2026, citing compliance failures, unsafe practices, and individual misconduct, while also terminating several prior enforcement actions after remediation. The OCC issued a Consent Order against Community Federal Savings Bank for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) program. The order requires the bank to address weaknesses in suspicious activity reporting and information-sharing controls and to implement corrective actions to achieve compliance with applicable AML requirements. The OCC also issued an Order of Prohibition against Dyemond Williams, a former JPMorgan Chase Bank associate, for engaging in unauthorized withdrawals from customer accounts. The action permanently bars the individual from participating in the affairs of any insured depository institution after misconduct caused at least $38,500 in losses. Additionally, the OCC terminated a 2024 Formal Agreement with Axiom Bank, National Association, after finding sustained compliance with prior corrective requirements related to BSA/AML deficiencies. The underlying agreement had cited violations of 12 C.F.R. §§21.21(d)(1) and (d)(3) and unsafe or unsound practices and required the bank to implement a comprehensive BSA/AML action plan, strengthen internal controls, and enhance suspicious activity monitoring and reporting programs. Similarly, the OCC terminated a 2024 Formal Agreement with Lincoln FSB of Nebraska after the bank addressed previously identified unsafe or unsound practices regarding improvements to strategic planning, liquidity risk management, contingency funding planning, interest rate risk management, and board oversight, including adopting formal programs and reporting frameworks to ensure ongoing compliance. The OCC also terminated a 2024 Formal Agreement with The First National Bank of Waverly after determining corrective measures had been completed. The 2024 formal agreement cited unsafe or unsound practices in strategic planning, capital planning, and liquidity risk management, and required the bank to implement a capital plan, strengthen governance, and improve risk management systems. A 2024 Formal Agreement with The First National Bank of Williamson was also terminated following remediation of governance and risk management deficiencies. The prior agreement had identified unsafe or unsound practices related to staffing, capital planning, strategic planning, interest rate risk management, audit oversight, and credit administration, and required comprehensive corrective programs and enhanced board oversight. Finally, the OCC terminated a 2021 Consent Order with Cenlar Federal Savings Bank that required the bank to better manage the scale of its risk profile in light of its position as one of the largest mortgage servicers in the U.S.

FAIR CREDIT REPORTING—The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has denied a motion to dismiss filed by the three major consumer reporting agencies in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) action over a payment reported as overdue. The plaintiff, who was enrolled in AutoPay to pay off a car loan, alleged that the lender failed to process the very last payment notwithstanding AutoPay was activated and the money was available in his bank account. The defendant reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and Transunion—argued the final payment was accurately reported as overdue since the payment was late as a matter of fact and plaintiff’s dispute is really over whose fault it was that the payment wasn’t timely made. While acknowledging that most district courts would side with the reporting agencies, the court analogized plaintiff’s allegations to someone mailing a check before the payment due date. “If a lender loses a check after receiving it on time, that does not mean that the payment was made late,” the court said. “And reporting that payment as overdue creates a misleading impression of a customer’s creditworthiness. The same is true here. When someone has authorized a lender to automatically withdraw a payment and the money is available for withdrawal, it is inaccurate to report the payment as overdue just because the lender failed to process it.” Plaintiff’s allegations that the payment wasn’t late and defendants’ reporting therefore inaccurate because he authorized the bank to make the payment and the money was available in his account were sufficient to state a cause of action under the FCRA and the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (Zimmerman v. Bank of America, et al., No. 25-cv-10164-VC (N.D. Calif. May 26, 2026)).

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS—Senators Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) urged regulators to investigate Banco Santander's proposed acquisition of Webster Financial over foreign influence concerns, in a letter dated May 21. The senators cited Santander's past sanctions-related lapses, including Iranian front companies moving money through Santander UK, writing that the episode showed "Iran's state apparatus and intelligence networks were able to exploit Santander's systems." They also pointed to money-laundering concerns in Spain and Santander's exposure to the First Brands fraud case. The lawmakers said the merger should not proceed unless regulators are "fully satisfied" Santander can safeguard the U.S. financial system.

SECURITIES AND DERIVATIVES—The Federal Reserve Board has issued an interpretive letter addressing whether the Bank of America Corporation may expand its physical commodity trading activities to include long-term electricity supply contracts. The Fed explained that electricity qualifies as a permissible commodity under prior approvals because it is tied to derivatives authorized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but emphasized that such activity must remain complementary to financial derivatives trading. Importantly, the Fed determined that the contracts are permissible only if they are limited to large commercial, industrial, or municipal customers meeting specified energy consumption thresholds, thereby ensuring participation by financially sophisticated counterparties rather than retail customers.

Attorneys: Erika Heath (Erika Heath, Attorney at Law) for Jason Zimmerman. Deleyla Assefa Lawrence (McGuireWoods LLP) for Bank of America, N.A. Jennifer R. Brooks (Seyfarth Shaw LLP) for Equifax Information Services, LLC. Nicholas John Rawls (Jones Day) for Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Charlotte A. Long (Trans Union, LLC) for Trans Union LLC.

Companies: Axiom Bank, National Association; Banco Santander; Bank of America Corporation; Bank of America, N.A.; Cenlar Federal Savings Bank; Community Federal Savings Bank; Equifax Information Services, LLC; Experian Information Solutions, Inc.; First Brands; JPMorgan Chase Bank; Lincoln FSB of Nebraska; Santander UK; The First National Bank of Waverly; The First National Bank of Williamson; Trans Union LLC; Webster Financial

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