Sidley Welcomes Former-CFPB Enforcement Director Tom Ward
Sidley is pleased to announce that Thomas Ward, who previously served as Enforcement Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has joined the firm as a partner in the Banking and Financial Services Group in Washington, D.C. As the CFPB’s chief law enforcement officer, Tom was responsible for enforcing more than 20 enumerated consumer financial statutes and the Consumer Financial Protection Act. He established and supervised the strategy in hundreds of active investigations and cases prosecuted by the CFPB’s Office of Enforcement and managed the agency’s 165 enforcement trial lawyers, investigators, and staff. Under his leadership, in 2020, the CFPB brought the second highest number of enforcement actions since its inception, secured its fourth highest amount of redress, prosecuted its largest and most complex litigation docket, and recommitted to enforcing the Fair Lending laws, including filing the first contested Fair Lending action in the CFPB’s history.
FINRA Issues 2021 Report on its Examination and Risk Monitoring Program
Released on February 1, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) 2021 Report on its Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (Report) provides a roadmap for member firms to use to prepare for examinations and to review and assess compliance and supervisory procedures related to business practices, compliance, and operations. The Report replaces two of FINRA’s prior annual publications: (1) the Report on Examination Findings and Observations, which provided an analysis of prior examination results, and (2) the Risk Monitoring and Examination Program Priorities Letter, which highlighted areas FINRA planned to review in the coming year.
FINRA Issues its 2020 Artificial Intelligence Report for Industry Comment
On June 10, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Securities Industry Report (Report), a culmination of a two-year review by FINRA’s Office of Financial Innovation to learn about the emerging challenges confronted by broker-dealers (Firms) and other market participants as they introduce AI-based applications into their businesses. The Report provides an overview of AI technology, explores its diverse, multifaceted applications in the securities industry and identifies the challenges and legal considerations with leveraging this technology. FINRA requests industry feedback on topics covered in the Report by August 31, 2020.