A research agenda, not completed reporting. These are the original topic questions and leads. Named companies, dates and outcomes require verification. Editorial operations and internal schemas remain private.

2. United States — federal

2.1 Regulator map (roles and fintech touchpoints)

  • OCC: national banks and federal savings associations; national trust charters; fintech charter policy; interpretive letters on crypto custody and stablecoin activities (2020–2021 letters, 2023 restrictions, 2025 rescissions — verify)
  • Federal Reserve: state member banks, bank holding companies, payment system operator (FedNow, Fedwire, FedACH), master account access guidelines (2022) and litigation (Custodia Bank v. Federal Reserve — verify appellate outcome), "novel activities" supervision program (2023) and its termination (2025 — verify), payment account ("skinny master account") proposals (verify)
  • FDIC: state non-member banks, deposit insurance, ILC approvals, Part 328 signage, brokered deposits, custodial account recordkeeping (link to Part 04)
  • NCUA: credit unions and CUSO fintech partnerships
  • CFPB: consumer financial law; supervision of larger participants; UDAAP; enforcement; complaints; 2025 leadership changes, staff reductions, contract cancellations, litigation over agency dismantling (NTEU v. Vought — verify status), withdrawal of guidance documents (May 2025 — verify count), dismissal of pending lawsuits, termination of consent orders, funding questions (verify all)
  • SEC, FINRA, CFTC: securities and derivatives; crypto enforcement shift in 2025 (dismissals — verify); SEC Crypto Task Force; prediction markets (link to Part 07)
  • FinCEN: BSA/AML, MSB registration, CTA/BOI, AML program modernization
  • OFAC: sanctions
  • FTC: non-bank consumer protection (Safeguards Rule, junk fees, Negative Option Rule vacated — verify), data security
  • DOJ: criminal enforcement, antitrust (Visa suit — link to Part 02)
  • FHFA, HUD, VA: mortgage-related fintech
  • Treasury: policy reports (e.g., 2022 crypto reports, 2024 RFI on AI in financial services — verify), GENIUS Act implementation rulemaking (verify)
  • Congress: CRA disapprovals of CFPB rules (2025: overdraft rule, larger participant rule for digital payment apps — verify); GENIUS Act (signed July 18, 2025 — verify); CLARITY Act/market structure (verify status); Credit Card Competition Act; anti-CBDC legislation (verify)

2.2 Federal rule tracker (seed list — verify status as of September 17, 2026)

  • CFPB Section 1033 Personal Financial Data Rights (link to Part 05)
  • CFPB Larger Participant Rule for general-use digital consumer payment applications (final November/December 2024; disapproved via CRA 2025 — verify)
  • CFPB overdraft rule for very large institutions (December 2024; CRA 2025 — verify)
  • CFPB credit card late fee rule ($8 safe harbor, March 2024; vacated April 2025 — verify)
  • CFPB BNPL interpretive rule (May 2024; withdrawn 2025 — verify)
  • CFPB EWA proposed interpretive rule (July 2024) and advisory opinion outcomes (verify)
  • CFPB medical debt rule (January 2025; vacated — verify)
  • CFPB Section 1071 small business lending data rule (compliance dates, reconsideration — verify)
  • CFPB registry of nonbank repeat offenders (2024) and its rescission (verify)
  • CFPB data broker FCRA proposal (withdrawn — verify)
  • CFPB nonbank supervision of Google Payment designation (December 2024; rescinded — verify)
  • Federal Reserve Regulation II debit interchange proposal (link to Part 02)
  • FDIC Part 328 signage; brokered deposits proposal (withdrawn — verify); custodial account recordkeeping proposal (verify)
  • Interagency third-party risk guidance (2023)
  • OCC/FDIC "reputation risk" removal (2025 — verify); fair access and debanking executive order (August 2025 — verify) and implementing rules
  • FinCEN AML/CFT program rule; CTA BOI interim final rule (March 2025 — verify)
  • GENIUS Act implementing rules from OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, Treasury (verify proposal and final dates; link to Part 11)
  • SEC Rule 605 amendments; PFOF-related proposals withdrawn (link to Part 07)
  • Nacha 2026 fraud monitoring rules (private rulemaking; link to Part 02)

3. United States — states

  • Money transmission: licensing requirement by state; NMLS; net worth, surety bonds, permissible investments; Money Transmission Modernization Act (MTMA) adoption count and effective dates (verify via CSBS); multistate licensing exams (MMET) and One Company, One Exam
  • Lending licenses: California Financing Law, state small-loan acts, rate caps (link to Part 06)
  • Virtual currency/stablecoin: NYDFS BitLicense and limited-purpose trust charters; California Digital Financial Assets Law (licensing deadline extended to July 2026 — verify); state interplay with GENIUS Act state-regime pathway (verify)
  • State "mini-CFPB" activity: New York (FAIR Business Practices Act — verify status), California DFPI (CCFPL enforcement and registrations for EWA/debt settlement), Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, Colorado — record increased state enforcement in 2025–2026 (verify)
  • State AG actions (multistate settlements, P2P scam suits, EWA suits)
  • State privacy and AI laws (link to Parts 05 and 11)
  • Sandboxes: Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Florida, West Virginia, others (verify activity)

4. United Kingdom

  • Regulators: FCA (conduct; authorizations; Consumer Duty), PRA (bank prudential), Bank of England (systemic payment systems, stablecoin regime for systemic issuers — verify consultation), PSR (payment systems; APP reimbursement; planned consolidation into FCA announced 2025 — verify legislation and timing), HM Treasury, ICO, FOS, CMA (open banking legacy), OPBAS
  • Licences: authorised payment institution, small payment institution, authorised e-money institution, bank (with mobilisation), consumer credit permissions, investment firm permissions, cryptoasset registration (MLRs) and planned crypto authorisation regime (verify timeline), BNPL (DPC) regime from July 2026 (verify)
  • Key rules and changes: Consumer Duty (July 2023/July 2024), safeguarding regime changes for payments/e-money firms (verify effective date 2026), APP reimbursement, financial promotions gateway (February 2024), cryptoasset promotions regime (October 2023), Edinburgh Reforms, Mansion House statements, "growth and competitiveness" secondary objective, FCA scaleup unit and supercharged sandbox (verify)
  • Enforcement seed list (verify): Starling Bank (£29m, 2024), Monzo (£21m, 2025), Metro Bank (financial crime, 2024), Barclays (financial crime, 2025 — verify), Railsr (administration and sale, 2023), Payment institutions with safeguarding failures (e.g., Ipagoo, Premier FX — historic context), Wirecard Card Solutions restrictions (2020), CPAY/other EMI special administrations (verify)

5. European Union

  • Authorities: European Commission, Council, Parliament; ECB/SSM (significant banks); national competent authorities; EBA, ESMA, EIOPA; AMLA (Frankfurt; direct supervision from 2028 — verify); EDPB
  • Frameworks (verify statuses): PSD2 → PSD3 + PSR; Instant Payments Regulation; IFR; MiCA (stablecoin titles from June 30, 2024; CASPs December 30, 2024; transitional periods to July 2026 — verify); Transfer of Funds Regulation (Travel Rule); AML package (AMLR, AMLD6, AMLA regulation — verify application dates); DORA; EU AI Act; Consumer Credit Directive 2023; Distance Marketing Directive changes; FiDA; Retail Investment Strategy; digital euro legislation (link to Part 11); Savings and Investments Union initiatives (verify)
  • Licensing and passporting: credit institution, payment institution, EMI, CASP under MiCA, investment firm; passporting and its limits; national divergences (Lithuania, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands as fintech hubs — verify supervisory changes)
  • Enforcement seed list (verify): Wirecard collapse and BaFin failures (2020), N26 BaFin fines and restrictions (2021–2025), Klarna Swedish FSA AML fine (2024), Revolut Bank of Lithuania fine (2025), Solaris BaFin measures (2024), Adyen or other PSP actions (verify), Dutch DNB actions against crypto firms

6. India

  • Regulators: RBI (banks, NBFCs, payment aggregators, PPIs, digital lending), NPCI (UPI operator; not a regulator but sets rules), SEBI (securities), IRDAI (insurance), FIU-IND, MeitY (DPDP)
  • Licences: payment aggregator (online, cross-border, physical — verify 2025 directions), PPI issuer, NBFC categories including NBFC-AA and NBFC-P2P, small finance and payments banks, universal banks, account aggregators
  • Key rules (verify): Digital Lending Guidelines (2022) and Digital Lending Directions 2025 (consolidation; lending service providers; default loss guarantee limits), card tokenization mandate (October 2022), e-mandate recurring payment framework, UPI market share cap deadline extensions, regulatory sandbox cohorts, KYC master direction updates, DPDP Act 2023 and Rules
  • Enforcement seed list (verify): Paytm Payments Bank restrictions (January 2024) and wind-down, Chinese loan-app crackdowns and ED actions (2022–2024), RBI penalties on NBFCs and fintech partners, SEBI actions on finfluencers and F&O platforms

7. Brazil

  • Regulators: Banco Central do Brasil (payments, Pix, Open Finance, banks, crypto service providers — verify 2025 rules), CVM (securities), SUSEP (insurance), COAF (FIU)
  • Licences: payment institutions (issuers of e-money, post-paid instruments, acquirers), SCD (direct credit company), SEP (peer-to-peer lending company), banking licences, virtual asset service providers (rules 2025 — verify)
  • Key rules (verify): Pix regulations and security rules (limits, MED), Open Finance phases, Law 14.478/2022 (crypto), payment arrangement rules, BNPL/credit card interest caps on revolving credit (2024 — verify), betting ("bets") payment restrictions (2024–2025 — verify), cybersecurity incidents involving PSTI connectivity providers (C&M Software 2025 — verify) and resulting rule changes

8. Singapore

  • Regulator: MAS
  • Licences: Payment Services Act 2019 (money-changing, standard payment institution, major payment institution; digital payment token services), digital bank licences (full and wholesale), capital markets services licence, stablecoin framework (August 2023; legislation status — verify)
  • Key rules (verify): Technology Risk Management Guidelines, Shared Responsibility Framework, E-Payments User Protection Guidelines, Project Guardian and tokenization initiatives, FEAT/Veritas AI principles, DTSP licensing restrictions for overseas-only services (June 2025 — verify)
  • Enforcement (verify): 2023 S$3 billion money-laundering case and MAS penalties on banks (2025 — verify), DPT license actions

9. Australia

  • Regulators: ASIC (conduct, credit licensing, BNPL), APRA (ADIs, stored-value facility plans — verify), RBA (payments system, surcharging, card regulation), AUSTRAC (AML/CTF; Tranche 2 reforms from 2026 — verify), ACCC (CDR, competition, Scams Prevention Framework), Treasury, OAIC
  • Licences: Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), Australian Credit Licence (ACL), ADI (including restricted ADI pathway — verify changes after neobank failures), payments licensing reform (stored-value facilities and payment facilities — verify legislative status), digital asset platform regime (verify)
  • Key rules (verify): BNPL credit regulation (June 2025), Scams Prevention Framework (2025), CDR changes, payments system modernization (Payments System (Regulation) Act amendments), design and distribution obligations (2021), product intervention powers
  • Enforcement (verify): ASIC actions against BNPL and small-amount lenders, AUSTRAC actions (e.g., Westpac 2020 A$1.3B, Crown, Entain — context for AML scale), ASIC action against Block Earner (2024 — verify appeal outcome)

10. Global standard-setters

  • BIS (CPMI, Innovation Hub), FSB (crypto and stablecoin recommendations 2023; cross-border roadmap; nonbank risks), FATF (Recommendations 15/16 revisions, Travel Rule implementation reports — verify 2025 R.16 amendments), IOSCO (crypto policy recommendations), Basel Committee (crypto exposure standard and 2025 review — verify), IAIS, OECD, World Bank/IMF

11. Licensing pathways (per jurisdiction)

For each of the seven jurisdictions, produce:

  • Decision tree: what activity triggers which license (money transmission/payments, e-money, lending, deposit-taking, securities, insurance, crypto/stablecoin)
  • Partner vs. own license tradeoffs (sponsor bank, agent of payee exemption, EMI agent/distributor models, appointed representative (UK), LSP model (India))
  • Application steps, documents (business plan, compliance program, capital, fit-and-proper tests, audited financials)
  • Realistic timelines (regulator service standards vs. observed experience — label sources)
  • Cost ranges: capital/net worth, bonds, application fees, legal and compliance costs (label estimates and sources; Tier 3–4 at best)
  • Ongoing obligations: reporting, exams, audits, safeguarding, AML
  • Common reasons for delay or refusal (from regulator publications)

13. Evaluation protocol: status verification

  1. Locate the primary text and its official citation.
  2. Record each lifecycle event with date and source.
  3. Check for litigation: search dockets by rule name and agency.
  4. Check for CRA resolutions (Congress.gov) and executive actions.
  5. Check agency "rescinded guidance" lists and Federal Register withdrawals.
  6. Record the status as of the research date; set next review date.
  7. Assign confidence; mark Disputed where agency statements and court orders conflict.

14. Workflows

Use the master workflow format for:

  • Checking whether a fintech is licensed (NMLS Consumer Access, FCA Register, EBA register, RBI lists, BCB list, MAS directory, ASIC Professional Register)
  • Checking a company's enforcement history before choosing a provider
  • Filing a complaint with the right regulator (CFPB, state regulator, FCA/FOS, AFCA, RBI Ombudsman, Banco Central/Consumidor.gov.br)
  • Preparing a fintech startup for licensing or a sponsor-bank partnership (compliance program elements)
  • Tracking a rule change that affects your product (for compliance teams)

15. Timeline 2020–2026

  • OCC fintech charter litigation; valid-when-made rules; true lender rule repeal (2021)
  • CFPB rulemaking surge (2023–2024) and 2025 reversal wave
  • GENIUS Act enactment and implementation milestones
  • UK Consumer Duty, APP reimbursement, PSR consolidation, BNPL regime
  • EU MiCA, DORA, AMLA, IPR, AI Act, PSD3/PSR milestones
  • India digital lending directions and Paytm Payments Bank
  • Brazil Pix and Open Finance rules; crypto regulation
  • Singapore PSA amendments and stablecoin framework
  • Australia BNPL, SPF, payments licensing reforms
  • Landmark enforcement actions by year