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Mike Nonaka

Michael Nonaka is co-chair of the Financial Services Group and advises banks, financial services providers, fintech companies, and commercial companies on a broad range of compliance, enforcement, transactional, and legislative matters.

He specializes in providing advice relating to federal and state licensing and applications matters for banks and other financial institutions, the development of partnerships and platforms to provide innovative financial products and services, and a broad range of compliance areas such as anti-money laundering, financial privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. He also works closely with banks and their directors and senior leadership teams on sensitive supervisory and strategic matters.

Mike plays an active role in the firm’s Fintech Initiative and works with a number of banks, lending companies, money transmitters, payments firms, technology companies, and service providers on innovative technologies such as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain, big data, cloud computing, same day payments, and online lending. He has assisted numerous banks and fintech companies with the launch of innovative deposit and loan products, technology services, and cryptocurrency-related products and services.

Mike has advised a number of clients on compliance with TILA, ECOA, TISA, HMDA, FCRA, EFTA, GLBA, FDCPA, CRA, BSA, USA PATRIOT Act, FTC Act, Reg. K, Reg. O, Reg. W, Reg. Y, state money transmitter laws, state licensed lender laws, state unclaimed property laws, state prepaid access laws, and other federal and state laws and regulations.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to review the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) collection and analysis of consumer credit records in response to a request from Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID).  In a letter to the GAO Comptroller General, Sen. Crapo requested that the GAO investigate “CFPB’s data

Continue Reading GAO to Review CFPB Data Collection Initiative

Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) posted its semi-annual update of its rulemaking agenda for the coming 12-month regulatory cycle, including recently-completed rulemakings.  The rulemaking agenda is part of a broader initiative led by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to publish a Unified Agenda of

Continue Reading CFPB Rulemaking Agenda Includes Potential Changes to GLBA Annual Privacy Notice Requirement

Today, the Federal Trade Commission released the agenda and panelists for the public forum it is holding on mobile security, Mobile Security: Potential Threats and Solutions, on June 4, 2013.  The forum will bring together technology researchers, industry members, and academics to explore mobile malware, the security of existing

Continue Reading FTC Announces Information about Upcoming Mobile Security Forum

Earlier this month, Maneesha Mithal, Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance regarding consumer report accuracy and the FTC’s efforts to improve accuracy through education and enforcement.  Her testimony emphasized the

Continue Reading FTC Official Highlights FCRA Enforcement as a High Priority

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) published in the Federal Register a joint rule requiring entities regulated by the agencies to adopt programs to detect and prevent identity theft.  The rule is referred to as the “red flags rule” and applies to certain broker-dealers

Continue Reading SEC and CFTC Issue Final Identity Theft Rule

On March 27, 2013, the Federal Reserve released a report on consumers’ use of mobile banking and mobile payments.  The report follows a similar report issued by the Federal Reserve last year.  The report found that use of mobile banking has increased significantly in the past year while use of mobile payments has increased as well. 

As of November 2012, 28 percent of all mobile phone users (compared to 21 percent in December 2011) and 48 percent of smartphone users (compared to 42 percent in December 2011) had used mobile banking in the past 12 months.  The recent report found that 15 percent of all smartphone users have made a payment from their phone in the past 12 months, compared to 12 percent of users from the prior report.  In addition, the use of mobile phones to deposit checks has doubled in the past year, rising from approximately 10 percent to 21 percent.      

The most common uses of mobile banking are to check account balances or recent transactions (87 percent of users) and to transfer money between accounts (53 percent of users).  The most common use of mobile payments is to make online bill payments (42 percent of users).  Six percent of all smartphone users have made a point-of-sale payment using their phone in the past 12 months, which represents a sizable increase from the one percent of users in December 2011. 

Continue Reading Federal Reserve Releases Report of Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments Use

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 749, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act.  The bill is sponsored by Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-MO) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA).  An earlier version of the bill passed the House in December but was never taken up by the Senate. 

Continue Reading House Passes Legislation Eliminating Annual GLBA Privacy Notice Requirement

Last Friday, the Federal Trade Commission released a report, Paper, Plastic…or Mobile?, on the use of mobile payments.  The report follows a workshop hosted by the FTC in April 2012 that explored innovative mobile payment products and services, the potential benefits offered by mobile payments, and the concerns they raise.  For purposes of the report, mobile payments generally include four types of payment processes:  (1) near field communication (NFC) technologies, (2) mobile applications, (3) online checkout wallets, and (4) mobile carrier billing (charging of payments directly to a mobile phone bill).

The report focuses on the primary areas where the increasing use of mobile payments raises concerns, including dispute resolution, data security, and privacy.  The report also highlights special concerns regarding mobile carrier billing and international mobile payments.Continue Reading FTC Issues Report on Mobile Payments

This week, the Federal Trade Commission released a study of the U.S. credit reporting industry and credit report accuracy.  The study found that five percent of consumers had errors on one of their three nationwide credit reports that could lead them to pay more for financial products.  The study is

Continue Reading FTC Study Details Inaccuracies in Credit Reports

On February 7, 2013, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) council released a supplement to the payment card industry data security standards (PCI-DSS) on the use of cloud technologies and considerations for maintaining PCI DSS controls in cloud environments.  The supplement is intended for merchants, service providers, assessors, and other entities

Continue Reading PCI Council Releases PCI-DSS Cloud Computing Guidelines