Top Story Compliance Related

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced yesterday it has taken action to disrupt the operations, fundraising, and support networks that help al-Qaida move money and operatives from South Asia and across the Middle East by imposing sanctions on three al-Qaida senior members located in Iran. Specifically, Treasury designated Faisal Jassim Mohammed Al-Amri Al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi, and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn as Specially Designated Global Terrorists pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 for acting for or on behalf of al-Qaida. As a result of this designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which these individuals have any interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them. See "OFAC adds three Counter Terrorism designees," in our OFAC Updates pages, for additional information.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has prohibited a former foreign exchange (FX) trader from participating in the banking industry for his manipulation of FX pricing benchmarks. Matthew Gardiner, a former FX trader at Barclays PLC and at UBS AG, used electronic chat rooms to coordinate FX trading, facilitate manipulation of FX pricing benchmarks, disclose confidential customer information to traders at other organizations, and engage in other unsafe and unsound practices. The enforcement action against Gardiner follows the Board's May 2015 enforcement actions against both Barclays and UBS for unsafe and unsound practices related to their compliance and control failures concerning practices in the FX markets. Those actions required UBS and Barclays to collectively pay $684 million in penalties for control deficiencies related to FX trading.

Earlier related stories:

• Justice announces FX manipulation guilty pleas
• 6 to pay $1.8 billion for FX practices

The FDIC has issued FIL-46-2016 announcing the release of an updated video on community bank corporate governance. The video is designed to assist community bank directors and officers in developing a sound corporate governance framework.

The FDIC has issued FIL-47-2016, "Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income for Second Quarter 2016," on behalf of the Corporation, the OCC and the Federal Reserve Board. The filing deadline for Call Reports is Saturday, July 30. Institutions with more than one foreign office other than a "shell" branch or International Banking Facility, must file by Thursday, August 4.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has posted a notice that the FFIEC and HUD have published resources for financial institutions required to file HMDA data:

• Filing Instructions Guide for data collected in 2017
• Filing Instructions Guide for data collected in or after 2018
• a Technoloogy Preview with resources for institutions preparing their systems to file HMDA data with the CFPB
• Frequently Asked Questions about the changes in filing procedures

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued Guidance Document FIN-2016-G003, "Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions," to assist covered financial institutions in understanding the scope of the "Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions,” published on May 11, 2016 (the “CDD Rule”). FinCEN said it plans to issue additional FAQs or other guidance on the rule, compliance with which is mandatory starting May 11, 2018, "as appropriate."

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System published [81 FR 47006] in today's Federal Register an interim final rule amending its rules of practice and procedure [12 CFR 263] to adjust the amount of each civil monetary penalty (“CMP”) provided by law within its jurisdiction to account for inflation as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The increased limits include "catch up" adjustments required by the Act. The rule will be effective on August 1, 2016. Comments on the rule will be accepted through August 30, 2016.

The CFPB has posted a save the date notice for a Bureau field hearing about debt collection to be held July 28 in Sacramento. The event is open to the public but requires a reservation.

A solicitation has been posted by the Bureau for research submissions for the Second CFPB Research Conference on Consumer Finance, which will be held this winter. Suggested topics include work on: the ways consumers and households make decisions about borrowing, saving, and financial risk-taking; how various forms of credit (mortgage, student loans, credit cards, installment loans, etc.) affect household well-being; the structure and functioning of consumer financial markets; distinct and underserved populations; and relevant innovations in modeling or data. A particular area of interest for the CFPB is the dynamics of households’ balance sheets. All submissions are due in PDF format by August 26, 2016.

The NCUA has announced that consumers have new ways to learn about their rights and protections when sending money internationally through a new video and brochure. Consumers can also find basic information on sending money domestically and internationally on NCUA’s dedicated Wire and Remittance Transfers page. All resources are also available in Spanish.