Top Story Compliance Related

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its Performance and Accountability Report, which details FHFA’s activities as regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System and as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during fiscal year 2016.

The 38 largest FDIC-insured financial institutions -- those with more than two million deposit accounts -- will have three years to develop the recordkeeping and information technology systems required for compliance with the FDIC's final rule establishing recordkeeping requirements for such institutions to facilitate rapid payment of insured deposits to customers if the institutions were to fail. The institutions are required to ensure that their IT systems are capable of calculating the amount of insured money for most depositors within 24 hours of a failure. The rule, which will add a new Part 370 in title 12 of the CFR, will become effective April 1, 2017, and covered institutions will have three years from the later of that date or the date on which an insured institution becomes covered by the rule, to comply.

• FDIC press release
• Final rule as published 12/5/2106 at 81 FR 87734
• Statement on the rule from FDIC Chairman Gruenberg

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced the mailing of 3,446 checks totaling more than $830,000 to people who lost money to Centro Natural Corp and Sumore LLC, a telemarketing scheme whose operators were banned from debt collection and telemarketing under a settlement with the FTC. According to the FTC's complaint, the defendants used international telemarketers to target Spanish-speaking consumers and demand they pay bogus debts. Callers claimed to be government officials, and threatened people who refused to pay with arrest, legal actions and immigration investigations. These telemarketers also pressured people into paying for unwanted products by telling them it would “settle” their debt. People who lost money to this scheme will get an average of $240.95 back.

OFAC has announced its designation of six individuals who represent Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian State Duma (Parliament). The six were sanctioned for being responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine and actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine. See BankersOnline's OFAC Update for details.

OFAC has issued a save-the-date invitation for its 2016 Fall Symposium to be held in Washington, D.C. on December 7. The event will provide a comprehensive review of current U.S. economic sanctions. It will include presentations on OFAC regulations, as well as targeted reviews of sanctions concerns for new and updated OFAC- administered programs. In addition to formal presentations by key personnel, OFAC staff will be available throughout the day to answer individual questions from participants.

Treasury has announced that National Oilwell Varco, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries Dreco Energy Services, Ltd. ("Dreco") and NOV Elmar ("Elmar") have agreed to pay $5,976,028 to settle their potential civil liability for apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, and the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations.

• Settlement agreement

HUD has announced it has issued formal guidance to Public Housing Authorities and others participating in the Department’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) on how to meet their fair housing, civil rights and relocation obligations during all phases of RAD’s conversion process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released its third semi-annual "Snapshot of servicemember complaints," which reviews and analyzes 18,000 complaints submitted to the agency related to mortgage refinancing.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in federal court charging that, in numerous instances, prepaid card company NetSpend Corporation (NetSpend) deceived consumers, many of whom do not have bank accounts, about access to funds deposited on defendants’ debit cards. According to the complaint, NetSpend tells consumers that its reloadable prepaid debit cards offer an alternative way to store and immediately access their funds. But once people have loaded funds onto the cards, many of them find they cannot access their money, either because NetSpend denies or delays activation of the card, or because it blocks consumers from using it, the FTC alleges. The FTC seeks to return consumers’ funds and ensure that NetSpend provides them with promised access to their funds in the future.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has acted to disrupt al-Nusrah Front’s military, recruitment, and financing operations. Specifically, OFAC designated four key al-Nusrah Front leaders – Abdallah Muhammad Bin-Sulayman al-Muhaysini, Jamal Husayn Zayniyah, Abdul Jashari, and Ashraf Ahmad Fari al-Allak – pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. These designations were taken in coordination with the U.S. Department of State, which today named Jabhat Fath al Sham as an alias of al-Nusrah Front – al-Qa’ida’s affiliate in Syria. As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of these designated individuals subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. See our OFAC Update for additional information.