financial regulation: ShortFormBlog

07:39 • 9 months ago

British bank settles with New York over money-laundering tied to Iran

$250 billion the amount Standard Chartered Bank is accused of helping the Iranian government launder from the U.S. between 2001 and 2007
$350 million the amount the company paid to help get that situation settled so that they would could get New York’s financial regulator off their back source

» Why did they settle? Well, to put it simply, it was starting to turn into a PR crisis. While they disagreed with the state of New York’s portrayal of the situation, the regulatory body had some pretty decent ammo against the bank, including an exec saying this: ”You (expletive) Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians.” (There are U.S. sanctions on Iran.) The bank will take corrective measures to prevent this from happening again. (EDIT: As the WSJ’s Samuel Rubenfeld points out below, the deal does not preclude a settlement from federal regulatory bodies. That’ll happen separately.)

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17:06 • 10 months ago

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s first blood: Capital One takes a hit

Tags: Capital One cfpb Consumer Finance Protection Bureau credit monitoring financial industry financial regulation payment protection 18 • Permalink

$150M the amount Capital One has agreed to reimburse customers in a settlement with the U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau
2M the number of people who may be affected by the deceptive marketing of unnecessary add-on programs, such as credit monitoring services
$75 the average amount each person affected would get, before legal fees; the settlement is the CFPB’s first act of enforcement source

» What this means for consumers: This settlement isn’t simply something that affects Capital One’s customers — rather, it helps set some guidelines for the entire industry, by forcing stronger warnings on add-on services sold by credit card companies; by setting a standard for clear payouts of refunds to consumers; and by discouraging other companies from selling the programs, which many consumer advocates dismiss as “junk products.” Simply put, the Capital One settlement sets a future standard for the financial industry as they work with the CFPB.

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