Top Story Compliance Related

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC sanctioned five Colombian nationals and two Mexico-based businesses under authority of Executive Order 14059, “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade.” The Colombian individuals sanctioned are leaders within Colombia’s Clan del Golfo—also known as Los Urabeños—which is one of the country’s largest drug trafficking organizations and a key contributor to human smuggling through the Darién Gap.

The companies sanctioned yesterday are located in Mexico and owned by designated Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl traffickers. One of the most notorious and pervasive drug trafficking organizations in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for a significant portion of the illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States.

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

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced it has charged Tallahassee, Florida, housing providers Greenbriar Partners, LLC, Jackson Properties and Financial Services, LLC, and Erwin D. Jackson (the “Respondents”) with violating the Fair Housing Act by failing to grant a tenant with a disability a reasonable accommodation to allow the tenant to live with an emotional support animal.

HUD’s Charge of Discrimination alleges that the Respondents failed to grant the Complainant’s requested reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal. That denial led to economic loss, lost housing opportunity, and emotional distress. The Charge of Discrimination also alleges that the Respondents violated the Act when they threatened the Complainant with an eviction because of her reasonable accommodation request.

HUD's Charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party to the Charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court.

FinCEN has announced it will hold a virtual information session on beneficial ownership information reporting requirements and how to comply with the Corporate Transparency Act on its YouTube channel at 2 p.m. EDT tomorrow, September 25, 2024.

The CFPB has posted the 2025 version of its HMDA Filing Instruction Guide (FIG), a compendium of resources to help lenders file annual HMDA data collected in 2025 with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) in 2026.

The Bureau also released the Online Supplemental Guide for Quarterly Filers for 2025, which includes 2025 calendar year quarterly deadlines. This guide will help financial institutions that are required to file HMDA data on a quarterly basis.

The Online 2025 Filing Instructions Guide and the Supplemental Guide for Quarterly Filers for 2025 can also be accessed at https://ffiec.cfpb.gov under Guides for HMDA Filers.

The CFPB has announced a proposed rule with a narrow amendment to disclosure requirements for certain international money transfers, or remittances. The proposed amendment would provide consumers clearer information about the types of inquiries that may be better handled by their remittance company before contacting the CFPB or the relevant state regulator.

The proposal would amend certain disclosures to clarify that consumers should contact their remittance company for issues specific to their money transfer. The proposal can potentially save consumers time by resolving their inquiries more quickly. Additionally, it may reduce the number of inquiries sent to states and the CFPB that would be more appropriately addressed initially by the providers themselves.

Comments will be accepted through November 4, 2024.

The NCUA has announced that its Board of Directors yesterday approved a final rule incorporating its Second Chance Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement and the Fair Hiring in Banking Act into its regulations, and a final rule that would simplify share insurance regulations by establishing a “trust accounts” category, aligning the Share Insurance Fund coverage for federally insured credit union members’ trust accounts with the coverage provided by the FDIC’s coverage of trust accounts at federally insured banks.

FinCEN has announced its release of a Beneficial Ownership Reporting Outreach and Education Toolkit that can be used in efforts to educate small business owners about new beneficial ownership reporting requirements mandated by the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act.

The toolkit contains templates and sample content that has been structured to allow private, public, and non-profit organizations to share and amplify this important information. The toolkit includes general background on the reporting requirements, as well as templates for newsletters, websites, and emails; sample social media posts and images; and information on how to contact FinCEN.

The OCC has announced enforcement actions recently taken against OCC-supervised institutions—

• A formal agreement with First Federal Savings Bank of Kentucky, Frankfort, Kentucky, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning and budgeting, succession planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management
• A previously announced formal agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for deficiencies related to the bank’s financial crimes risk management practices and anti-money laundering internal controls in several areas
• An order of prohibition against Natasha A. Aikens, former lead associate at a Brooklyn, New York, branch of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Columbus, Ohio, for engaging in a scheme to steal bank funds and falsely reporting the receipt of counterfeit bills in the bank’s general ledger, resulting in losses to the bank of at least $201,000

The Treasury Department has reported that OFAC has designated a network of five entities and one individual—based in Russia and in the Russia-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia—that have enabled and supported ongoing efforts to establish illicit payment mechanisms between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Yesterday’s action holds accountable parties that have assisted DPRK and Russian sanctions evasion and demonstrates Treasury’s commitment to exposing and disrupting networks that facilitate the funding of the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs and support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

For a link to the names and identification information of the designated parties, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced the approval of a Conciliation Agreement with OceanFirst Bank, headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey. The Agreement resolves a complaint against OceanFirst alleging that the bank engaged in redlining by restricting access to credit and mortgage lending services in majority-Black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods in the New Brunswick, New Jersey area.

HUD's complaint alleges that, from 2018 through at least 2022, OceanFirst failed to provide mortgage lending services to predominantly Black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods in Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties. Specifically, the complaint alleges states that OceanFirst acquired and subsequently closed branches and loan production offices in these neighborhoods, which, coupled with its insufficient marketing efforts and fair lending policies, led to OceanFirst failing to serve the needs of these neighborhoods.

Under the terms of the Agreement, OceanFirst will:

• Invest at least $14 million in a loan subsidy fund with the goal of increasing access to credit for home mortgage loans, home improvement loans, and home refinance loans in majority-Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods in the New Brunswick area
• Spend at least $400,000 on professional services for residents in these neighborhoods to increase access to residential mortgage credit and serve the credit needs of those communities through partnerships with one or more community-based or governmental organizations that provide services related to credit, financial education, homeownership, and/or foreclosure prevention
• Spend at least $140,000 each year of the Agreement ($700,000 total) on advertising, outreach, consumer financial education, and credit counseling in these neighborhoods
• Maintain a full-service branch opened in December 2023 and open a loan production office (LPO) located in these neighborhoods. The LPO will include a community room to accommodate financial education classes that OceanFirst will make available to the public and to community organizations and include an ATM that will not charge fees to OceanFirst’s customers and maintain lower fees for non-customers than what is available at nearby ATMs
• Assign or hire at least two full-time loan officers to solicit mortgage applications primarily in majority-Black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods in the New Brunswick area
• Hire or designate a full-time position of Director of Community Lending
• Provide at least four outreach programs per year for real estate brokers and agents, developers, and public or private entities engaged in residential real estate-related business in these neighborhoods to inform these stakeholders of OceanFirst’s products and services
• Provide at least six consumer education seminars per year targeted and marketed toward residents of neighborhoods of color in the New Brunswick area to cover credit counseling, financial literacy, or other related consumer financial education
• Comply with HUD’s Guidance on Application of the Fair Housing Act to the Advertising of Housing, Credit, and Other Real Estate-Related Transactions through Digital Platforms for all OceanFirst’s advertising and targeting.

OceanFirst agreed to resolve the complaint voluntarily and HUD issued no findings related to the complaint’s allegations.