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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released enforcement actions taken against national banks and federal savings associations (banks), and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with banks the OCC supervises.

As previously reported, based on an unopposed motion submitted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the October 2021 redlining consent order with Trustmark National Bank was terminated early, and the DOJ is seeking early termination of the September 2022 consent order with Lakeland Bank. The Lakeland Bank motion for early termination is being opposed by the Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund.

On March 13, New York State introduced proposed legislation titled the Fostering Affordability and Integrity Through Reasonable Business Practices Act (FAIR Act). The proposed legislation seeks to broaden the scope of consumer protection from deceptive business practices currently available under existing law by amending § 349 of the General Business Law (GBL). If enacted, the FAIR Act would provide individuals, small businesses, and non-profit organizations with greater legal recourse at the state level and target a wider range of alleged harmful conduct, including “unfair” and “abusive” business practices.

U.K.-based payment processor, Paddle.com Market Limited, and its subsidiary, Paddle.com, Inc., will pay $5 million and be permanently banned from processing payments for tech-support telemarketers. This settles a Federal Trade Commission action alleging that Paddle abused the U.S. credit-card system and enabled deceptive foreign operators to access it, costing consumers millions of dollars.

The federal bank regulatory agencies today announced a request for comment on potential actions to help consumers, businesses, and financial institutions mitigate risk of payments fraud, with a particular focus on check fraud. For purposes of the request for information, payments fraud generally refers to the use of illegal means to make or receive payments for personal gain, including scams.