Financial Regulators’ Dilemma: Administrative and Regulatory Hurdles to Innovation

Jeremiah Buckley and Sasha Leonhardt^*

            Developments in financial technology hold great promise to enhance the quality, delivery, and reach of consumer financial services. However, many of the laws dictating the operations of financial regulators are more than 50 years old, and in drafting these laws Congress understandably did not anticipate the digital revolution. These aging laws and administrative practices are grounded in important objectives, but they also present meaningful obstacles to financial innovation that new technology could deliver.

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* Jeremiah Buckley is a founding partner of, and Sasha Leonhardt is a counsel at, Buckley LLP, a nationwide financial services, government enforcement, and litigation firm that advises fintech and traditional clients on a wide variety of regulatory and innovation-related matters.