n a comment letter to the Federal Communications Commission today, the American Bankers Association urged the FCC to continue developing a centrally administered database of phone numbers that have been relinquished by one individual and reassigned to another.

As the Treasury prepares to issue its report on nonbank fintech issues, ABA today released a white paper featuring several fintech policy recommendations that would facilitate innovation both inside and outside of the regulated banking system and promote partnerships between banks and nonbanks.

The American Bankers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and several other members of industry today asked the Federal Communications Commission for new rules that would ensure that customers can receive important communications from banks and other businesses. 

A federal judge’s recent action to vacate portions of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 order on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act has provided a new opportunity for the FCC to clarify certain definitions and take steps to ensure that consumers can continue to receive important communications from banks and other businesses, ABA and seven other financial trade groups said in a joint letter to Senate leaders.

In a win for ABA and other industry stakeholders, a federal appellate court today set aside some of the Federal Communications Commission’s constraints on when and how businesses can contact customers by phone.

The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it would vote at its March 22 meeting on a proposal to establish a database of phone numbers that have been relinquished by one individual and reassigned to another individual.

In a comment letter today, ABA urged the Federal Communications Commission to create a “challenge mechanism” that banks and other businesses can use in the event their legitimate business phone calls to customers are erroneously blocked by a voice service provider. The mechanism would allow banks to report the blocking and regain prompt access to the number. 

Courts appear willing to restrict a consumer’s ability to revoke consent to contact—have not issued adequate rulings to create meaningful precedent.

Deposit-taking, garnishment, TCPA and more

In a joint comment letter with the Financial Services Roundtable and the Consumer Bankers Association yesterday, ABA supported a petition from ContextMedia, Inc. (doing business as Outcome Health) calling on the Federal Communications Commission to clarify that a caller is not subject to liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when an undetected technical error prevents a consumer’s opt-out request from being processed.