Last summer, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) burst into the regulatory spotlight by wresting a historic $340 million money-laundering fine from Standard Chartered Bank. Now, nearly a year later, there are plenty of good reasons to pay plenty of attention to this zealous regulator—as Jones Day points out via Harvard Law School’s corporate governance blog.

“Given DFS’s aggressive posture, its willingness to examine new issues, and its desire to establish precedents for other regulators and prosecutors to follow, banks, insurers, and other financial institutions—both in and outside New York—should keep DFS and its activities in view,” the law firm memo [PDF] says.

Formed in late 2011 by the merger of two existing state agencies, DFS is led by Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, who gave a speech last month on the agency’s priorities and guiding philosophy. Between Lawsky’s remarks and Jones Day’s analysis, here are three things to note as DFS hits its one-year milestone:

1. The agency’s desire to foster ‘healthy competition’ among regulators

With Standard Chartered, DFS certainly demonstrated it wasn’t afraid to break away from the regulatory pack and pursue a case aggressively. At the time, unnamed government sources grumbled to the media about DFS’s approach.

Lawsky doesn’t apologize for that—and in fact thinks competition among regulators cuts down on “complacency” and “institutional inertia,” according to his speech.

“A dose of healthy competition among regulators is helpful and necessary to safeguarding the stability of our nation’s financial system,” he said. “Not just today—but for the long term.

2. How federal regulators are taking notice

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