Top Story Compliance Related

FinCEN has posted a notice that Hurricane Irma victims in affected areas of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida have until January 31, 2018, to file their Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) report for the 2016 calendar year. The FBAR for calendar year 2016 would otherwise be due October 15, 2017.

The OCC will host two workshops in San Diego on October 24 and 25 for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations supervised by the agency.

• The Compliance Risk workshop on October 24 will focus on the critical elements of an effective compliance risk management program, and on major compliance risks and critical regulations. Topics of discussion include the Bank Secrecy Act, Flood Disaster Protection Act, Fair Lending, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Community Reinvestment Act, and other compliance areas of interest.
• The Operational Risk workshop on October 25 will focus on the key components of operational risk—people, processes, and systems— and on governance, third-party risk, vendor management, and cybersecurity.

The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC have announced a joint notice of proposed rulemaking to amend their respective Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations primarily to conform to changes made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). In particular, the agencies are proposing to amend their CRA regulations to revise the definitions of "home mortgage loan" and "consumer loan," as well as the public file content requirements. These revisions would maintain consistency between the CRA regulations and the recent changes to Regulation C, which generally become effective on January 1, 2018. Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

UPDATE: Published in the Federal Register on September 20, 2017, with comments due by October 27, 2017.

The CFPB has announced that recent supervisory actions have resulted in $14 million in relief to more than 104,000 harmed consumers from January through June 2017. Findings in the Bureau's Summer 2017 Supervisory Highlights report include that some banks misled consumers about checking account fees or overdraft coverage, and some credit card companies deceived consumers about pay-by-phone fees. The report also found some auto lenders had wrongly repossessed consumers’ vehicles, and some debt collectors improperly communicated with consumers about debts. CFPB’s examiners also found some companies did not follow the Know Before You Owe mortgage rules and some servicers failed to follow steps required by the Bureau’s mortgage servicing rule to work with borrowers trying to avoid foreclosure.

Antitrust guidance for businesses taking part in relief efforts and those involved in rebuilding communities affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has been released by the FTC and the Department of Justice. The guidance is intended to help businesses understand how they can work together to rebuild affected communities without violating the antitrust laws.

The OCC has Issued Bulletins 2017-35 and 2017-36 to announce the revision of the "Flood Disaster Protection Act" and "Foreword" booklets of the Comptroller's Handbook.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has conducted an assessment of Ireland’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system, based on the 2012 FATF Recommendations. This assessment reviews both the level of effectiveness of Ireland’s AML/CFT regime as well as its level of technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations. The assessment found Ireland has a sound and substantially effective regime to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing, but could do more to obtain money laundering and terrorist financing convictions and demonstrate its effectiveness in confiscating proceeds of crime.

The FDIC has issued FIL-40-2017 to announce the FFIEC's launch of a new Industry Outreach website for financial institutions, trade associations, third-party providers, and consultants. The website also provides access to upcoming FFIEC-sponsored webinars and includes an archive of past webinars.

In two final rules published in today's Federal Register, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has listed communities scheduled for suspension from the National Flood Insurance Program for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program.

• 82 FR 42240—communities in Carroll County, IA, effective 9/15/2017
• 82 FR 42241—communities in Volusia County, FL; Hawaii County, HI; Henderson County, KY; Kittson County, MN; Chester County, PA; and Jackson County, WI, effective 9/29/2017

The Department of the Treasury announced multiple actions on Wednesday in response to the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation in South Sudan and the role of officials of the South Sudanese Government in undermining the peace, security, and stability of the country. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two South Sudanese government officials and one former official for their roles in destabilizing South Sudan and three companies that are owned or controlled by one of the officials. Additionally, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory [FIN-2017-A004] to financial institutions concerning the potential movement of assets belonging to South Sudanese politically exposed persons.

For identification information on the designated individuals and entities, see our OFAC Update.