Benjamin Lawsky is leaving New York’s Department of Financial Service, five banks to pay US$5.6 billion fine for rigging markets, and more top stories for May 21. Benjamin Lawsky exits NYDFS, plans to launch consultancy firm New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky is in the middle of a career switch. He is leaving his role at the NY Department of Financial Services to set up his own consulting firm, which will advise financial institutions on technology, cyber security and virtual currency, as well as help them overcome some of the legal obstacles he helped put in place. …

Embattled New York superintendent of financial services Benjamin Lawsky is rumored to be stepping down from his post in 2015. Sources told the New York Daily News the departure is expected as part of a reshuffle of several key positions, with Governor Cuomo’s chief aide Larry Schwartz and others also tipped to leave next year. “Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky is also expected to leave in early 2015 — bound for the private sector,” the publication writes. The news comes at a time when Lawsky has been a focal point of the Bitcoin story in the US, as …

Back in August, the New York Department of Financial Services pushed back the deadline for public commentary on its proposed BitLicenses. That deadline, October 21, is here. In the last few days, two big names in the Bitcoin community, BitPay and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have made public statements about how their organizations perceive the state’s proposed regulations. On Monday, payment processing service BitPay submitted a letter to New York’s superintendent of financial services, Benjamin Lawsky, expressing concern over the regulations as they were laid out this summer. “[T]he proposed regulation,” BitPay Chief Compliance Officer Tim Byun wrote, “significantly misses …