Top Story Compliance Related

FinCEN has announced the renewal of its Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in non-financed purchases of residential real estate.

The terms of the GTOs are effective beginning April 19, 2024, and ending on October 15, 2024. The GTOs continue to provide valuable data on the purchase of residential real estate by persons possibly involved in various illicit enterprises. Renewing them will further assist in tracking illicit funds and other criminal or illicit activity, as well as continuing to inform FinCEN’s regulatory efforts in this sector. FinCEN renewed the GTOs that cover certain counties and major U.S. metropolitan areas in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas, Washington, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

The purchase amount threshold remains $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area, with the exception of the City and County of Baltimore, where the purchase threshold is $50,000.

• Copy of GTO
• FAQs about the GTOs

The Social Security Administration has published [89 FR 27472] a notice of a revision in the upper transactions limit to the upper subscription tier for the electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) Verification (eCBSV) service, to become effective for subscription payments made on or after April 22, 2024.

The top tier subscriber, making more than 25 million inquiries a year, will pay an annual fee of $8.25 million.

The CFPB has published in today's Federal Register two Consumer Financial Protection Circulars previously posted to its website.

• Adverse Action Notification Requirements and Proper Use of Sample Forms [89 FR 27361], released on the CFPB's website on September 19, 2023
• Deceptive Marketing Practices about the Speed or Cost of Sending a Remittance Transfer [89 FR 27357], released on the CFPB's website on March 27, 2024

The CFPB has announced an update to its procedural rule on how the agency designates a nonbank for supervision. The updates will streamline the designation proceedings for both the CFPB and nonbanks.

The updated process published yesterday reflects changes to the CFPB’s organizational structure and is informed by the CFPB’s experience with the first round of supervisory designation proceedings under procedures issued in 2013.

• PUBLICATION AND COMMENT PERIOD UPDATE: Published in the 4/23/2024 Federal Register. Effective on publication. Comments will be accepted through 5/23/2024.

OFAC has published a final rule in today’s Federal Register to remove its Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations (part 541) from 31 C.F.R. chapter V, as a result of the termination of the national emergency on which the regulations were based. The removal of part 541 is effective today.

The Federal Trade Commission has published [89 FR 26760] a final rule with amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) that, among other things, require telemarketers and sellers to maintain additional records of their telemarketing transactions, prohibit material misrepresentations and false or misleading statements in business to business (“B2B”) telemarketing calls, and add a new definition for the term “previous donor.” The amendments are being made to address technological advances and to continue protecting consumers, including small businesses, from deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices.

The amendments are effective May 16, 2024. However, compliance with 16 CFR 310.5(a)(2) — a recordkeeping requirement — is not required until October 15, 2024.

The Commission also published [89 FR 26798] a proposed rulemaking that would extend the coverage of the TSR to inbound telemarketing calls by consumers to technical support services—i.e., calls that consumers make in response to an advertisement through any medium or to a direct mail solicitation. The FTC said the proposed amendment is necessary in light of the widespread deception and consumer injury caused by tech support scams. The amendment would provide the Commission with the ability to obtain stronger relief in cases involving tech support scams, including civil penalties and consumer redress. Comments on the proposed amendments will be accepted through June 17, 2024.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC had designated 12 entities and ten individuals under Executive Order 14038. This action built on U.S. sanctions imposed in response to Belarus’s fraudulent August 2020 election, as well as President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s support for Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The action sustains U.S. financial pressure on the Lukashenka regime for its continuing support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and the financial benefit it derives from this activity.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals and entities, see BankersOnline's April 15, 2024, OFAC Update.

FinCEN has issued a Notice [FIN-2024-NTC1] on the use of counterfeit U.S. passport cards to perpetrate identity theft and fraud schemes at financial institutions. The Notice, which was coordinated with the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, provides an overview of typologies associated with U.S. passport card fraud, highlights 17 select red flags to assist financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious activity, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

FinCEN reports that, from 2018 to 2023, U.S. passport card fraud has resulted in $10 million in actual losses and $8 million in additional attempted losses with over 4,000 victims in the United States. However, DSS and other law enforcement agencies assess losses associated with U.S. passport card fraud and associated identity theft are likely significantly greater and seek increased reporting by financial institutions to identify additional illicit activity. Fraud, including financial crimes related to the use of counterfeit U.S. passport cards, is the largest source of illicit proceeds in the United States and represents one of the most significant money laundering threats to the United States, as highlighted in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, the National Strategy for Combatting Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing, and FinCEN’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism National Priorities.

On Friday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC had taken action against Hamas, targeting Gaza- and Lebanon-based leaders of the terrorist group’s offensive cyber and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. Concurrent with this action, the European Union imposed sanctions targeting Hamas.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties, see the April 12, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The OCC has announced it will extend until June 15, 2024, the comment period on its proposal to update its rules for business combinations to allow interested parties more time to provide comments.

The proposal also includes a policy statement to clarify the OCC’s review of applications under the Bank Merger Act.

Comments were originally due by April 15, 2024.

• Federal Register extension notice