Andrew E. Bigart focuses his practice on helping bank and non-bank financial institutions navigate the federal and state regulatory environment governing payments, lending, and consumer financial services.
Andrew provides regulatory and business counseling advice to clients across a variety of industries, including banks, payments companies, money transmitters, broker-dealers, lenders, and trade associations.
He counsels clients on regulatory compliance matters, contract negotiations, due diligence, federal and state examinations, and civil investigations and litigation before federal and state banking and financial institution regulators.
Andrew assists banks and non-bank financial institutions in the payments industry with regulatory compliance, business counseling, contract negotiations, due diligence, examinations, and civil investigations and litigation before federal and state banking and financial institution regulators.
Andrew’s clients include card networks, banks, fintechs, payment processors, payment facilitators, independent sales organizations (ISOs), online lenders, digital and mobile wallet providers, and merchants.
He advises banks and payments clients on regulatory issues relating to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC), state attorneys general, and numerous state banking and regulatory agencies.
In addition, he counsels numerous banks and payments companies on federal and state laws governing the provision of financial services to marijuana-related businesses. Andrew counsels bank and non-bank clients on a variety of advertising, marketing, consumer protection, and general business issues.
He helps clients with ongoing regulatory compliance concerns, examinations, investigations, and litigation before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and state attorneys general.
Andrew’s work has focused on industries subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and other, similar consumer protection laws and regulations.
Andrew assists Venable’s Nonprofit Organizations Group in advising trade associations and nonprofits on corporate governance, antitrust, and policy issues. In particular, he represents leading associations in the payments space on policy and advocacy involving federal regulatory developments.
Experience :
- Develops and helps clients implement regulatory compliance programs for merchant processing, payments, and lending activities
- Advises clients on Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) requirements, “know your customer” (KYC) principles, and other regulatory requirements
- Provides comprehensive risk management advice related to consumer protection laws and enforcement imposed on payment processors by the FTC, CFPB, and other regulators
- Advises a large payments company on risks and compliance implications of certain proposed new services involving remote deposit capture, check cashing, money transmission, tax refunds, and prepaid access
- Assists clients with fifty-state surveys on various consumer financial services requirements, including unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAAP) and marketing and consumer credit advertising laws
- Assists clients with evaluating the distinctions, pros, and cons of acting as a payment facilitator, marketplace, and digital wallet
- Drafts and negotiates bank sponsorship agreements with payment processors, payment facilitators, and other payments companies
- Assists a payments company with launching a commercial payments platform for virtual cards, ACH, prepaid, and checks. This work has involved negotiating sponsor agreements on the front end with numerous sponsor banks, and commercial agreements with accounts payable and various other software companies on the back end
- Conducted regulatory due diligence of an acquisition target operating a payment facilitator in the online consumer lending market.
Education :
- J.D.cum laudeAmerican University, Washington College of Law2006
- B.A.cum laudeCollege of William & Mary2003
Bar Admissions : District of Columbia, Virginia
Professional Memberships : Member, American Bar Association, Antitrust Section
Community : Volunteers each year as part of the Mock Court Program of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit.
Cost
Rate : $$$