Top Story Compliance Related

Treasury announced Wednesday that Kenneth A. Blanco has been named Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Mr. Blanco joins Treasury after serving as the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice. He has supervised many of the Criminal Division’s most significant national and international investigations into illicit finance, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and sanctions violations, including investigations of global financial institutions and money services businesses. Much of his work is in the international banking and financial services area, working and collaborating with international partners in countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Panama, among others. Mr. Blanco is expected to transition to FinCEN Director from his current position at the Department of Justice in the next month.

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2017-50 announcing a revision of the “Subordinated Debt” booklet for the Comptroller’s Licensing Manual. The revised booklet incorporates updated requirements for issuing subordinated debt and including it as tier 2 capital, as well as revised sample notes for national banks and new sample notes for federal savings associations.

A Southern California-based auto dealership group will pay $1.4 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated a 2014 administrative order prohibiting it from misrepresenting how much consumers could pay to finance or lease a vehicle.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has announced that Randal K. Quarles has been sworn in as a member of the Board of Governors and as Vice Chair for Supervision.

The FDIC has released a list of 74 state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The list covers evaluation ratings that the FDIC assigned to institutions in August 2017. The list includes eight banks (one each in Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California and Nevada, and two in New York) that received "outstanding" ratings, and one Texas bank that received a "needs to improve" rating. The other 65 banks received "satisfactory" ratings.

The Department of the Treasury announced yesterday afternoon that FinCEN has issued a final rule under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act that severs Bank of Dandong, a Chinese bank that acts as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity, from the U.S. financial system. FinCEN also issued an advisory to further alert financial institutions to schemes commonly used by North Korea to evade U.S. and United Nations (UN) sanctions, launder funds, and finance the North Korean regime’s weapons programs. The rule severing Bank of Dandong's access to the U.S. financial system will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

UPDATE: FinCEN scheduled the rule for publication on November 8, 2017, which will make the rule's effective date Friday, December 8.

The CRA ratings received by eighteen national banks and federal savings associations in October have been released by the OCC. There were two outstanding and 16 satisfactory ratings. Both outstanding ratings were earned by small banks, one in Kansas and the other in Wyoming.

The White House announced yesterday afternoon that the president has signed H.J.Res. 111, overturning the CFPB's Arbitration Rule, into law. The Rule will now not take effect and a similar rule cannot be promulgated without specific authorizing legislation.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika issued a statement following the president’s signing of the resolution.

OCC Bulletin 2017-48, issued yesterday, announces updates of the OCC's policies and procedures regarding bank enforcement actions and related matters, which are changing effective on December 1, 2017. The updates are reflected in the “Bank Supervision Process,” “Community Bank Supervision,” “Federal Branches and Agencies Supervision,” and “Large Bank Supervision” booklets of the Comptroller’s Handbook. Bulletin 2017-49 was also issued, announcing the revision of the “Subsidiaries and Equity Investments” booklet.

OFAC has issued amended Ukraine- /Russia-Related Directive 4 and published new related FAQs. These actions were taken under Title II of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). OFAC also published FAQs related to key provisions of CAATSA.