Top Story Compliance Related

The CFPB has announced the twelfth in its series of a dozen Requests for Information (RFIs) under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney's "Call for Evidence" initiative. This last RFI of the series, which asks for feedback on the CFPB's handling of consumer complaints and inquiries, is scheduled for publication on Tuesday, April 17, with a 90-day comment period ending on July 16, 2018.
UPDATE: Publication date corrected to April 17, and comment period corrected to 90 days.

The full "Call for Evidence" RFI series with comment deadlines:

1. Civil Investigative Demands and Associated Processes - 4/26/18
2. Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings - 5/7/18
3. Enforcement Processes - 5/14/18
4. Supervision Program - 5/21/18
5. External Engagements - 5/29/18
6. Public Reporting Practices of Consumer Complaint Information - 6/4/18
7. Rulemaking Processes - 6/7/18
8. Adopted Regulations and New Rulemaking Authorities - 6/19/18
9. Inherited Regulations and Inherited Rulemaking Authorities - 6/25/18
10. Guidance and Implementation Support - 7/2/18
11. Financial Education Programs - 7/9/18
12. Consumer Complaint and Inquiry Handling Processes - 7/16/18

Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen has released the agency’s 2017 Annual Highlights detailing its continued efforts to protect American consumers and promote competition without unnecessarily burdening legitimate businesses. “This year, the FTC has pressed forward with aggressive agendas for enforcing the nation’s consumer protection and competition laws,” said Ohlhausen. “The Commission also made major strides in other key areas, such as promoting economic liberty and helping military consumers and small businesses.”

The Federal Reserve Board has published its annual report to Congress detailing the actions the Fed has taken to fulfill requirements outlined in section 308 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced a proposal that would simplify its capital rules for large banks (bank holding companies with more than $50 billion in consolidated assets) while preserving strong capital levels that would maintain their ability to lend to households and businesses under stressful conditions. The proposal would introduce a "stress capital buffer," or SCB, which would in part integrate the forward-looking stress test results with the Board's non-stress capital requirements. The result would produce capital requirements for large banking organization that are firm-specific and risk-sensitive. Comments on the proposed rule, which would amend Federal Reserve Board regulations Q, Y and YY, will be accepted for 60 days following publication.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday it has charged two Texas companies and their principals in a $2.4 million Ponzi scheme and in a related $1.4 million offering fraud targeting retirees. A complaint filed by the SEC alleges that, from 2010 to 2017, Clifton E. Stanley ran a Ponzi scheme through his retirement planning and real estate investment business, The Lifepay Group, LLC. Stanley is alleged to have lured at least 30 elderly victims to invest approximately $2.4 million of their retirement savings with baseless promises and claims of outsized investment returns. He kept the scheme afloat for years by paying early investors with later investors' funds and by convincing investors to roll over their investments. The SEC further alleges that Stanley pilfered from the estate of an elderly woman's family trust, diverting nearly $100,000 to fund the Lifepay Ponzi scheme.

Credit unions with questions about complying with customer due diligence requirements in the Bank Secrecy Act can get valuable information during a National Credit Union Administration webinar scheduled for April 25, 2018. The 60-minute BSA Compliance - Customer Due Diligence webinar will begin at 2 p.m. ET.

The FDIC has published a proposed rule at 83 FR 15327 in today's Federal Register that would rescind and remove from the Code of Federal Regulations the part entitled Fiduciary Powers of State Savings Associations (subpart J of 12 CFR part 390) and amend current FDIC regulations (12 CFR parts 303 and 330) regarding consent to exercise trust powers to reflect the applicability of these parts to both state savings associations and state nonmember banks. Comments will be accepted through June 11, 2018.

A mutual evaluation report of an assessment of Iceland’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system recently conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) indicates the country needs better internal cooperation and coordination to effectively tackle money laundering and terrorist financing. The assessment found Icelandic authorities have a fragmented understanding of AML/CFT risks that is not used for further policy development. Although supervisors are beginning to identify areas of risk relevant to their sectors, they need to further enhance their supervisory roles and their use of the risk-based approach. The report said that Iceland should also explore the specific risks associated with legal persons and arrangements and improve the availability of beneficial ownership information. With the exception of the three large commercial banks in Iceland, the financial sector and non-financial businesses and professions have a poor understanding of the money laundering or terrorist financing risks to which they are exposed. These private sector entities have limited awareness of their AML/CFT obligations and report very few suspicious transactions in light of the risks present.

The SEC has announced that three investment advisers have settled charges for breaching fiduciary duties to clients and generating millions of dollars of improper fees in the process. SEC Orders indicate PNC Investments LLC, Securities America Advisors Inc., and Geneos Wealth Management Inc. failed to disclose conflicts of interest and violated their duty to seek best execution by investing advisory clients in higher-cost mutual fund shares when lower-cost shares of the same funds were available. Collectively, the firms will pay almost $15 million, with more than $12 million going to harmed clients.

The Treasury Department has published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would, if finalized, streamline Treasury's regulations by removing one regulation that is no longer necessary because it does not have any current or future applicability, and by amending one regulation to remove portions that no longer have any current or future applicability. The rule would eliminate § 30.16 of 31 CFR part 30, dealing with the Office of the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation (which no longer has any employees) and all of 31 CFR part 32, Payments in Lieu of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which covered a program that expired December 31, 2011. Comments on the proposal are due by June 8, 2018.