Scenario 3.5. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settled a claim with the Bank of America for deceiving customers and unfairly billing them for services such as credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Bank of America agreed to provide refunds to 2.9 million people and pay $45 million in fines for their illegal credit card practices. Their deceptive practices dated to 2000 where they had billed customers for products such as "Privacy Guard" or "Privacy Assist" without first obtaining authorization for the products. The $45 million in fines includes $25 million as a civil penalty that will be paid to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $20 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau also claims that Bank of America deceived about 1.4 million customers into making about $268 million in payments by, among other things, improperly telling them the first 30 days of coverage were free or the benefits were greater than existed. Refer to Scenario 3.5. Which environmental force is Bank of America responding to by agreeing to pay fines and refunds to consumers?

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Bank of America is responding to a claim by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that they engaged in illegal credit card practices and deceived customers. The Bureau settled the claim with Bank of America, and as part of the settlement, the bank agreed to pay $45 million in fines and provide refunds to 2.9 million customers. This is an example of Bank of America responding to legal and regulatory environmental forces.