New York financial regulators’ rule change that curbed the profits check-cashing companies may reap, with the state untethering the formula from inflation after nearly 20 years, has survived a legal challenge by industry represented by Big Law attorneys.

A Manhattan trial court judge wrote on Thursday that, although New York lawmakers have declared that check-cashing companies provide important and vital services, and it’s in the public interest to promote their stability, neither banking nor financial services laws provide a guarantee of their profitability.