A Deep Dive into the Fight for the CFPB’s Survival
Release Date: 08/28/2025
Fair Lending Developments Under Trump 2.0 – Part 2
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s episode marks the second of a two-part series, with Part One having been released on November 13th. In this installment, we continue our conversation on the many changes in fair lending policy and enforcement under the second Trump administration. The discussion is moderated by Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel, founder and former chair for 25 years of Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, and features these distinguished experts in the field: Bradley Blower, Founder of Inclusive Partners LLC. John Culhane, Jr., Senior Partner and charter member of Ballard...
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Fair Lending Developments Under Trump 2.0 – Part 1
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s episode marks the first of a two-part series, with Part Two scheduled for release on November 20th. In this installment, we examine the sweeping changes in fair lending policy and enforcement under the second Trump administration. The discussion is moderated by Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel, founder and former chair for 25 years of Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, and features these distinguished experts in the field: Bradley Blower, Founder of Inclusive Partners LLC. John Culhane, Jr., Senior Partner and charter member of Ballard Spahr’s fair lending team....
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A New Era for Banking: What President Trump’s Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers – Part 2
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s podcast features the second part of a recent webinar produced on September 24, 2025, titled: "A New Era for Banking: What President Trump's Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers." In Part 2, we discuss the following topics: 1. What are the areas of uncertainty with respect to the Executive Order, including: · Defining an...
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A New Era for Banking: What President Trump’s Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers – Part 1
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s podcast features the first part of a recent webinar produced on September 24, 2025, titled: "A New Era for Banking: What President Trump's Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers." In Part 1, we discuss the following topics: 1. History of Debanking, including: o Operation Chokepoint: An initiative by federal prudential banking regulators during the Obama administration aimed at discouraging banks supervised by them from providing services to companies engaged in payday...
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The GENIUS Act and the Future of Stablecoins: What Banks and Fintechs Need to Know - Part 2
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s podcast features the second part of a repurposed webinar produced on September 3, 2025, which dives into the legal risks, compliance challenges, and emerging constitutional questions stemming from the GENIUS Act. The conversation examines the strict prohibition of deceptive claims regarding federal backing or insurance for stablecoins, highlighting the significant civil liabilities and penalty provisions attached to violations. Art Wilmarth delves deeply into areas such as federal preemption of state laws, consumer protections, and the power dynamics introduced by big tech and...
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The GENIUS Act and the Future of Stablecoins: What Banks and Fintechs Need to Know - Part 1
Consumer Finance Monitor
Today’s podcast features the first part of a recent webinar produced on September 3, 2025, which examined the key provisions of the GENIUS Act (“The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act”) and its regulatory impact on banks, fintechs and the future of stablecoins. The discussion covers critical definitions, licensing, oversight and enforcement requirements, the relationship to state stablecoin laws. Panelists offer insights into the role of federal banking regulators such as the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Financial Stability...
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Recent Consumer Financial Services Developments at the Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Finance Monitor
We are pleased to share a new podcast episode, which was taken from our September 9, 2025, webinar featuring Malini Mithal, Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Financial Practices. Malini has been a valued guest on our podcast in past years, and this session provided another timely and insightful discussion. In today’s episode she gives her thoughts on the FTC’s recent non-antitrust consumer protection initiatives. Major Key Topics Discussed 1. Fintech oversight – Malini began with FTC activity involving fintechs, particularly...
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The Supreme Court’s Landmark Ruling on Universal Injunctions in the Birthright Citizenship Cases - Part 1
Consumer Finance Monitor
The podcast show we are releasing today is a repurposing of part 2 of a webinar we produced on August 13, 2025, which explored the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal 6-3 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a ruling that significantly curtails the use of nationwide or “universal” injunctions. A universal injunction is one which confers benefits on non-parties to the lawsuit. This case marks a turning point in federal court jurisprudence, with profound implications for equitable relief, national policy, and governance. Our distinguished panel of legal scholars, Suzette Malveaux (Roger D....
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First Circuit Rules National Bank Act Does Not Preempt Rhode Island State Law: Is There Still Any Advantage to Having A National Bank Charter?
Consumer Finance Monitor
As our regular podcast listeners know, we ordinarily release a new regular podcast show once each week on Thursday. On a very few occasions, we have released a special extra podcast show during the same week. We have only done that when a development occurs which we feel is of extraordinary importance and time sensitive. On September 22, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued its unanimous opinion in Conti v. Citizens Bank, N.A. in which it held, in the context of a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that the Bank failed to pay interest on mortgage...
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The Supreme Court’s Landmark Ruling on Universal Injunctions in the Birthright Citizenship Cases - Part 1
Consumer Finance Monitor
The podcast show we are releasing today is a repurposing of part 1 of a webinar we produced on August 13, 2025, which explored the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal 6-3 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a ruling that significantly curtails the use of nationwide or “universal” injunctions. A universal injunction is one which confers benefits on non-parties to the lawsuit. This case marks a turning point in federal court jurisprudence, with profound implications for equitable relief, national policy, and governance. Our distinguished panel of legal scholars, Suzette Malveaux (Roger D. Groot...
info_outlineWe recently wrote about the August 15th D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the lawsuit brought by the labor unions representing CFPB employees against Acting Director Russell Vought. The unions sought injunctive relief in response to what they described as an attempted “shutdown” of the Bureau.
In a 2–1 ruling, the Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by the District Court. That injunction had temporarily blocked the CFPB from carrying out a reduction-in-force (“RIF”) that would have left the Bureau with only about 200 employees to carry out its statutory responsibilities.
Today, our Consumer Finance Monitor podcast takes a deep dive into this critical decision and its implications. Alan Kaplinsky (founder and former practice group leader, now Senior Counsel in our Consumer Financial Services Group) joins Joseph Schuster (a partner in the Group) for a wide-ranging conversation covering:
- The majority opinion by Judge Katsos
- The dissenting opinion by Judge Pillard
- The plaintiffs’ options for further review — and why the odds may be at least 50–50 that the full D.C. Circuit (with 11 judges, 7 appointed by Democratic presidents) will grant en banc review
- Why plaintiffs might choose to continue litigating in the District Court as the CFPB implements the RIF and scales back activities to only those that are statutorily mandated
- How the CFPB’s sharply reduced budget (cut nearly in half by the “Big Beautiful Bill”) shapes the Bureau’s future functions
- What the CFPB could look like once litigation ends and “the dust settles”
- The impact of the just-released semiannual regulatory agenda
- The current status of the complaint portal
- What’s happening with the CFPB’s supervision and enforcement efforts
- How the DOJ and FTC are approaching consumer financial services issues
- Whether state attorneys general are stepping up enforcement to fill the gap left by a diminished CFPB
This is a must-listen episode for anyone following the future of the CFPB, the role of other federal agencies, and the actions of state AGs in regulating consumer financial services.