Another Federal Regulator Takes on TCPA

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently released a list of enforcement actions taken during the month of March, one of which includes its first enforcement decision and order against a bank for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The FDIC assessed a civil penalty of $200,000 against the People’s Bank of Trust Company in Ryan, Oklahoma for violating the Federal Trade Commission Act (by telemarketers representing themselves as federal government employees) and the TCPA (by calling consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry or consumers who had requested to be on the Bank’s internal Do Not Call List).

Among federal regulators, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are the most active enforcers of TCPA, making it a bit surprising that the FDIC has jumped into the fray.

According to legal experts, “the FDIC’s order suggests that the primary banking regulators are also taking a more active role in enforcing the TCPA,” meaning that “supervised institutions should proactively conduct risk assessments to identify potential TCPA risk areas within their programs and practices prior to their next examination, including whether the institution or a third-party vendor engages in any form of telephone or text solicitation.”