Navigating influencer rules in the financial services industry, SEC addresses cryptocurrency holdings, and more in this issue of Consumer Financial Services Practice Digest

2 min

Navigating FTC and California Rules on "Influencers" in the Financial Services Industry

Does your company advertise its financial products and services on social media, and use individuals to get the word out? Increasingly, this advertising strategy has become an important tool for institutions' marketing departments, but using such "influencers" is not without its risk and compliance pitfalls. The Federal Trade Commission is focused on this practice, and a new California decision interpreting California's wage and hour law raises potential employment law issues.

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SEC Addresses Cryptocurrency Holdings by Registered Funds

The SEC Division of Investment Management recently published a letter to SIFMA addressing the interest among sponsors in offering registered funds that would hold cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related products. The Division emphasized that flexibility to innovate is a key feature of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and reiterated that the Division seeks to "foster innovation that benefits investors and preserves the important protections that Congress established in the 1940 Act." The Division noted, however, that cryptocurrencies and related products are in many ways unlike the types of investments typically held by registered funds, and, as a result, there are a number of investor protection issues that need to be addressed before sponsors begin offering investments in cryptocurrency-holding funds to retail investors.

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STATE ENFORCEMENT SPOTLIGHT

State Attorneys General Highlight Investigative Powers in Letter to CFPB

On April 25, 2018, sixteen state attorneys general submitted a Letter responding to the CFPB Request for Information Regarding Bureau Civil Investigative Demands and Associated Processes. While the state AGs urge the Bureau not to "curtail" the Bureau's investigative authority and to keep issuing CIDs, the Letter also sheds light on states' own investigative powers, which differ among each other and from the CFPB's investigative powers in important ways.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

July 12, 2018: "Vendor Management Integration," a Receivables Management Association Webinar

July 24, 2018: "CFPB/FTC Debt Collection Update," ACA International 2018 Convention