Martha Miller, Director of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (the "Office"), explained that the recently established Office is intended to help small businesses and their investors access capital. In remarks at the Kauffman Foundation's "1 Million Cups" program held in Kansas City, Missouri, Ms. Miller said the Office will, in part, focus on assisting small businesses in resolving issues with the SEC and self-regulatory organizations, and on identifying problems faced by women- and minority-owned small businesses. As to "who" qualifies, Ms. Miller noted that

SIFMA, the Institute of International Bankers, the American Bankers Association and others ("trade associations") urged the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services (the "Committee") to amend the "outdated" and "inefficient" Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA") regulatory framework. In addition, the trade associations called for the Committee to create a federal registry of the beneficial owners of legal entities. The trade associations noted that the BSA regulatory framework is nearly 50 years old and "has not fundamentally changed since its adoption in 1970." The trade associations stated that the

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") provided an overview of servicemember complaints (i) related to financial products and (ii) listed by state.

ISDA, SIFMA, the American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute and the FIA (collectively, the "Associations") commented on a proposal of U.S. banking regulators (see here for coverage) to implement the "standardized approach for counterparty credit risk" ("SA-CCR") by U.S. capital rules. The Associations raised concerns over the potential impact of the proposed rule on the derivatives market, specifically equity and commodity derivatives. The Associations expressed general support for the move from the "current exposure method" to a more risk-based measure, but found that elements of

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") reported supervisory examination findings on (i) automobile loan servicing, (ii) deposits, (iii) mortgage servicing, and (iv) remittances completed between June 2018 and November 2018. In its periodic publication, Supervisory Highlights, the CFPB reported, among other things, that: servicer attempts to collect "miscalculated deficiency balances" were not fair; one or more institutions engaged in deceptive representations about bill-pay debited dates; servicers charged consumers higher late fees than the amount permitted by mortgage notes; and