News Release 2018-126 | November 26, 2018 Share This Page: WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today published the latest edition of its Community Developments Investments newsletter, “Expanding Internet Access: Bank Financing for Rural Broadband Initiatives.” This edition of Community Developments Investments discusses the important role national banks and federal savings associations can […]
Monthly Archives: November 2018
FTC Issues Annual Report on Ethanol Market Concentration 2018
The Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2018 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Commission to perform an annual review of market concentration in the ethanol production industry “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.” As in prior […]
Appraisal Threshold for Residential Real Estate Loans
FIL-76-2018 November 21, 2018 Appraisal Threshold for Residential Real Estate Loans Printable Format: FIL-76-2018 – PDF (PDF Help) Summary: The FDIC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the Agencies) are jointly issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking titled Real Estate Appraisals (Appraisal NPR), […]
Regulatory Capital Rule: Capital Simplification for Qualifying Community Banking Organizations
FIL-77-2018 November 21, 2018 Regulatory Capital Rule: Capital Simplification for Qualifying Community Banking Organizations Printable Format: FIL-77-2018 – PDF (PDF Help) Summary: The federal banking agencies jointly have issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or proposal) which would provide for an optional, simplified measure of capital adequacy for qualifying community banking organizations, consistent with […]
FTC Requests Public Comment on an Application from Praxair and Linde to Approve Sale of an Industrial Gases Plant to Celanese Ltd.
The Federal Trade Commission is currently accepting public comments on an application from industrial gas suppliers Praxair, Inc. and Linde AG to divest a hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide gas plant to Celanese Ltd. The divestiture of the plant is required under the FTC’s October 22, 2018 proposed order, which requires Praxair and Linde to […]
Reduced Reporting for Covered Depository Institutions
FIL-75-2018 November 20, 2018 Reduced Reporting for Covered Depository Institutions Printable Format: FIL-75-2018 – PDF (PDF Help) Summary: On November 19, 2018, the federal banking agencies published the attached Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) that would implement Section 205 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the Act) by: (1) expanding the […]
Remaining Operators of Student Debt Relief Scheme Settle FTC Charges
The operators of a Los Angeles-based student loan and mortgage debt relief operation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they bilked millions of dollars out of consumers by falsely claiming to be affiliated with the federal government. The defendants, A1 DocPrep Inc., Steamlined Marketing, and their owner, Homan Ardalan, falsely claimed to […]
FTC Halts Deceptive Student Debt Relief Scheme that Bilked Consumers out of Millions
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that a California-based student debt relief scheme bilked consumers out of millions of dollars using false promises that they could reduce their monthly payments, or eliminate or reduce their student loan debt. A federal court temporarily halted the scheme and froze its assets at the request of the FTC, which seeks […]
FTC Announces Agenda for the Eighth Session of its Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century; Session at New York University to Focus on “Common Ownership”
The Federal Trade Commission announced the agenda for the eighth session of its Hearings Initiative with a one-day hearing at the New York University School of Law in New York City on December 6, 2018. The day’s panels will examine concerns that acquisitions and holdings of non-controlling ownership interests in competing companies, for example by […]
FTC Gives Final Approval to Settlements with Four Companies Related to EU-U.S. Privacy Shield
The Federal Trade Commission has given final approval to settlements with four companies over allegations that they falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. In separate complaints, the FTC alleged that IDmission, LLC, mResource LLC (doing business as Loop Works, LLC), SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc., and VenPath, Inc. falsely claimed to be certified under […]