Recent developments about the New York State Department of Financial Services
(Not affiliated with NYDFS; just a blog.)
Per the DFS Press Release: · Following “the 2016 Panama Papers leak of millions of Mossack Fonseca law firm records . . . [t]he Department subsequently launched reviews of licensees connected to the law firm, including Swedbank.” · “Over the course of two years, DFS issued two information requests to Swedbank, seeking details about the Bank’s relationships … Read more
According to the NYDFS Consent Order and release: · Santander permits consumers to request an extension of time to make payments on automobile loans. · Santander told consumers they could obtain the extension for a single $25 extension fee, when in practice Santander charged borrowers an extension fee of $25.00 per month. · Notable here is timing. Santander voluntarily … Read more
According to the DFS Consent Order: · Following identification of a zero-day vulnerability in a file transfer application called MOVEit, it was determined that Delta Dental’s default retention settings for certain files were longer than necessary, or even that, in some instances, Delta had disabled certain folders’ retention settings entirely, thus allowing for exfiltration of PII … Read more
According to a New York State Department of Financial Services press release under Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow: · House of Prayer and Life, Inc. d/b/a Jericho Share or Jericho Health Share purported to act as a federally-authorized Health Care Sharing Ministry. · Instead of properly qualifying under that federal law, DFS found Jericho had operated as an … Read more
Reports Forbes: “OCC trust bank charters for Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets are one of the clearest signals yet that crypto is moving from the regulatory perimeter into the core of the U.S. banking system. For banks, it is arguably the biggest institutional crypto signal of 2025—just as spot bitcoin ETFs were … Read more
In a fireside chat with Penny Lee, President and CEO, Financial Technology Association, Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow discussed: · Crypto: given the changing regulatory environment at the federal level, Superintendent Asrow believes some DFS charters will flip to federal; some entities will want to hold both federal and state charters; and some entities will hold onto DFS … Read more
Superintendent Harris has been busy on her way out the door: – In addition to issuing several pieces of guidance in the past few weeks, she announced Consent Orders with 8 insurance firms and brokers resolving an investigation involving attacks on agent and consumer portals that allegedly exposed consumer information. According to the DFS press … Read more
EXECUTIVE DEPUTY KAITLIN ASROW APPOINTED TO ASSUME ACTING POSITION Announcement is here.
NYDFS issued guidance in the form of a policy statement on obtaining what it terms a “Notice of Satisfaction of Agreements.” · Importantly, a Satisfaction Notice does not serve as the termination of a Consent Order, Written Agreement or MOU: “Notices will not alter, rescind, or seal an Agreement, and they will not cancel any restriction imposed … Read more
NYDFS issued guidance for regulated banking institutions concerning their approach to risks associated with cryptocurrency businesses that may be bank customers or that interact with bank customers · The guidance sensibly responds to the more permissive regulatory environment for cryptocurrency filtering down from the Trump Administration’s major policy shifts · The guidance principally relates to the use … Read more