Top Story Compliance Related

The Federal Reserve Board has announced that it is accepting applications from individuals who wish to be considered for membership on the Board's Community Advisory Council (CAC). Formed in 2015, the CAC advises the Board on issues affecting consumers and communities. The CAC is made up of a diverse group of experts and representatives of consumer and community development organizations and interests, including affordable housing, community and workforce development, small business, and asset and wealth building.

A list of the ratings received by 31 national banks, federal savings associations, and insured federal branches of foreign banks recently evaluated for CRA compliance has been released by the OCC. Three institutions were rated outstanding and 28 were rated satisfactory.

The OCC will host two workshops at the Holiday Inn Des Moines Downtown-Mercy Area, Des Moines, Iowa, May 9-10, for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations supervised by the OCC. The Risk Governance workshop on May 9 combines lectures, discussion, and exercises to provide practical information for directors to effectively measure and manage risks. The workshop also focuses on the OCC's approach to risk-based supervision and major risks in the financial industry. The Credit Risk workshop on May 10 focuses on credit risk within the loan portfolio, such as identifying trends and recognizing problems. The workshop also covers the roles of the board and management, how to stay informed of changes in credit risk, and how to effect change.

The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration has submitted for Federal Register publication on Friday, April 7, 2017, a final rule delaying the Applicability Date of its rule on Fiduciary Conflicts of Interest -- Retirement Investment Advice, and selected other changes, from April 10, 2017, for 60 days, to June 9, 2017. The effective date of this final rule (delaying the Availability Date and certain other provisions) is April 10, 2017.

See our March 2, 2017, Top Story, "Proposal to delay Labor Department Fiduciary Rule," for additional information.

The Bureau has announced the publication of its 2016 Consumer Response Annual Report, which provides an overview of the complaints it received in 2016. A few key takeaways:

• The Bureau handled 291,400 consumer complaints in 2016. This is a 7 percent increase over complaints handled in 2015.
• Debt collection, credit reporting and mortgages were the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing about 67 percent of complaints submitted in 2016.
• Financial companies provide timely responses to consumer complaints. About 97 percent of complaints sent to companies get timely responses.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has published in today's Federal Register a report of administrative actions taken by its Mortgagee Review Board against HUD-approved mortgagees for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.

The FDIC has released a list of orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in February. The list includes a total of 14 orders and one notice. The administrative enforcement actions in those orders consisted of one consent order; five removal and prohibition orders; one Section 19 order; five civil money penalties; one prompt corrective action directive; and one notice.

Three institution-affiliated individuals of Banamex USA, Century City, California, were issued civil money penalty orders totaling $190,000 and two of those individuals were also issued prohibition orders.

Civil money penalties were imposed on Heritage Bank, Erlanger, KY ($8,500); Park Bank, Holmen, WI ($6,300); and United Bank, Osseo, WI ($3,600) for violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act. The list of specific violations in paragraphs 7 - 42 of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law portion of the Park Bank order are particularly detailed and may be useful for compliance training.

BOL's Andy Zavoina, who watches for trends in Flood Insurance penalties, notes that the FDIC issued the same number of flood CMPs in the three months from December 2016 through February 2017 that it issued in all of 2016, and that the $126,000 in penalties it imposed in those same three months is nearly triple the 2016 total of $45,000.

OFAC has designated one entity and 11 individuals in response to North Korea’s ongoing development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and continued violations of United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs). The action targets North Korean nationals working as agents of the regime in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Cuba to provide financial support or WMD procurement services for UN- or U.S.-designated sanctioned entities. The names have been added to the OFAC SDN list with North Korea, non-proliferation and/or counter narcotics designations, along with removals and an update. See BankersOnline's OFAC Update for the details.

The FTC has announced that NetSpend Corporation has agreed to settle allegations that the prepaid card company deceived people about access to funds deposited on NetSpend debit cards. NetSpend was ordered to provide monetary relief totaling no less than $53 million.

• Settlement agreement

OFAC has announced it has taken action to disrupt the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) global financial and facilitation networks by designating two individuals as Specially Designated Global Terrorists pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224. The individuals designated are Syria- and Iraq-based ISIS members who provide financial and operational support for ISIS's recruitment and attack plotting in Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The State Department also designated five individuals under E.O. 13224. As a result of those actions, all property and interests in property of the seven individuals subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

For additional information, see our OFAC Update.