Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other regulatory, legislative, litigation, and industry developments, (May 1, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

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

BANK SECRECY ACT—The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is providing an additional 30-day comment period on a proposed survey of compliance costs for anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance, beginning April 28. The notice comes after the FinCEN solicited comment for a 60-day period (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Oct. 3, 2025), with the latest comment period offering the opportunity to respond to those comments, as well as original topics such as the applicability of the survey to purported goals and the accuracy of its estimated annual burden of 59,656 hours among 7,457 respondents as part of a planned pilot for the survey. Comments are due by May 28, 2026.

CAPITAL AND BASEL ACCORDS—The Federal Reserve Board has issued an interpretive letter addressing whether a proposed credit-linked note transaction by State Street Corporation and State Street Bank and Trust Company could be treated as a synthetic securitization under its capital rule. The institutions sought approval to calculate risk-weighted assets as if the transaction met all operational criteria for synthetic securitizations, despite not fully satisfying certain definitional elements, including the use of qualifying credit risk mitigants. In response, the Fed determined that, based on the specific facts presented, the firms may treat the transaction as a synthetic securitization for risk-based capital purposes. The agency concluded that the structure—featuring pre-funded credit protection through note proceeds and risk transfer tied to a reference pool—was sufficiently similar to recognized risk mitigation techniques. The approval also extends to substantially identical transactions, subject to conditions, including aggregate exposure limits and consistent structuring, and requires that the treatment apply to all exposures within each transaction. The Federal Reserve emphasized that the determination is limited to the facts presented and could change if those facts or representations differ.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT—The Treasury Department announced on April 27 that it had begun a review of certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) for potential violations of law or program requirements. In the announcement, Treasury officials are seeking to ensure CDFIs act as “proper stewards of taxpayer funds” while continuing to expand access to capital in underserved communities. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said institutions that engage in predatory practices will be reviewed and, where appropriate, held accountable.

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU—The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published its annual report, GAO-IG Act Reporting, in compliance with the Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act. The GAO-IG Act requires agencies to annually submit a report to Congress on the status of certain open public audit recommendations. To comply with the Act, the report contains: (1) open Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations, and (2) open Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Reserve Board recommendations. The GAO-IG Act also requires an agency to disclose discrepancies between its report and reports issued by the GAO and OIG. The CFPB reported that it is not aware of any discrepancy between this report and public reports issued by the GAO or OIG. According to the report, from the inception of the CFPB in July 2010 through April 2026, the GAO, OIG, and independent auditors have issued a total of 518 recommendations to the CFPB. To date, 472 or 91 percent of those recommendations have been closed. A total of 46 open recommendations: 18 from the GAO and 28 from the OIG.

EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY—Motion to dismiss was granted on plaintiff Mohammad Najafpir’s Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) claim. Plaintiff is “an Iranian-American and of Islamic religion” and alleges that Wells Fargo treated him differently from similarly situated borrowers “by misclassifying his single-family property as ‘three units,’ relying on inaccurate MLS data, imposing obsolete and inconsistent requirements tied to a ‘then-applicable policy,’ demanding unnecessary documents and modifications, and subsequently contradicting its own position when its refinance division confirmed the property was single-family and the 4.5% rate ‘should not have happened.’ The court agreed with Wells Fargo that Najafpir failed to state an ECOA claim based on a disparate-impact or disparate-treatment theory. Najafpir’s third amended complaint failed to identify any Wells Fargo neutral policy or practice, let alone one that causes a disparate impact on a protected group. The Court granted Wells Fargo’s motion to dismiss the ECOA claim and the breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim with prejudice but allowed Najafpir to proceed in litigating his fraud claim. (Najafpir v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 4:24-cv-03372-YGR (N.D.Cal. Apr. 6, 2026)).

LAW FIRM NEWS—Holland & Knight has announced the addition of finance partners Kevin Eisenberg and Jeffrey Fried in New York to the firm’s Specialty Finance and Regulatory Practice Group. These additions follow that of partner Adam Jachimowski, who joined Holland & Knight's New York office in February. “We are pleased to welcome Kevin and Jeff to the Firm. Their arrival advances our long-standing goal of expanding our general lending capabilities in New York and strengthens our core corporate finance work across the country,” said Cindy Brazell, leader of Holland & Knight’s Financial Services Section. Eisenberg’s practice focuses on representing private bank clients in debt financings for ultra-high net worth individuals, particularly in transactions secured by a range of collateral, including diversified marketable securities, concentrated public stock holdings, private and pre-IPO stock, private equity and hedge fund investments, aircraft and art collections. Fried is experienced in the representation of banks and other financial institutions in the financing and restructuring of permanent, construction, mezzanine and leasehold loans, including agented and syndicated loan facilities.

VOLCKER RULE—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is providing an additional 30-day comment period beginning April 30 on a renewed authorization for data collection for Bank Holding Company Act section 13 titled “Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Disclosure Requirements Associated with Proprietary Trading and Certain Interests in and Relationships with Covered Funds.” The notice comes after the OCC solicited comment for 60 days beginning Feb. 12 (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Feb. 11, 2026). Comments must now be received by June 1, 2026.

Attorneys: Cindy Brazell, Kevin Eisenberg, Jeffrey Fried (Holland & Knight).

Companies: State Street Bank and Trust Company; State Street Corporation

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