Top Story Compliance Related

The Federal Trade Commission has sent to the CFPB a summary and the full text of its report of 2016 work on debt collection practices for inclusion in the CFPB’s annual report to Congress on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The FTC and the CFPB share FDCPA enforcement responsibilities. In 2016, the Commission:

• filed or resolved 12 cases against 61 defendants, and obtained nearly $70 million in judgments
• banned 44 companies and individuals that engaged in serious and repeated violations of law from ever working in debt collection again
• secured successful summary judgment decisions in three litigated matters, resulting in orders banning defendants from the debt collection industry

FinCEN has published at 82 FR 9109 in the Federal Register a notice and request for comments on a proposed update and revisions to the collection of information filings by financial institutions required to file such reports under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). This notice does not propose any new regulatory requirements or changes to the requirements related to suspicious activity reporting. The data fields reflect the filing requirement for all filers of SARs under the BSA. Most of the proposed changes would alter the "checklist" of violations in Part II of the filings, including the addition of several fields related to cyber events. Comments are due by April 3, 2017.

OFAC has designated Venezuelan national Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (El Aissami) as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker (SDNT) pursuant to the Kingpin Act for playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking. El Aissami is the Executive Vice President of Venezuela. El Aissami's primary frontman, Venezuelan national Samark Jose Lopez Bello (Lopez Bello), was also designated. OFAC further designated or identified as blocked property 13 companies owned or controlled by Lopez Bello or other designated parties that comprise an international network spanning the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. Five of those entities are LLCs registered in Florida. See our OFAC Update for additional information.

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2017-10 on its publication on January 23, 2017, of a final rule that removes outdated or otherwise unnecessary provisions in certain rules, reducing the regulatory burden on national banks and federal savings associations. The rule, which becomes effective April 1, 2017, also integrates the OCC’s national bank and FSA rules relating to fidelity bonds, Securities Exchange Act of 1934 disclosures, securities offering disclosures, and insider and affiliate lending. The rule is part of the results of the OCC's review under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996.

The Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC have issued revised macroeconomic scenarios for their 2017 stress testing program to correct a data series error. The scenarios previously released contained incorrect historical values for the BBB corporate yield in 2016. As a result of the correction, BBB corporate yields peak at slightly lower levels in the severely adverse and adverse scenarios. The correction also lowered yields in the baseline scenario, but the revision is more modest than for the other scenarios.

The Federal Trade Commission has provided the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with an annual summary of its activities enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).

The OCC has issued a proclamation allowing national banks and federal savings associations affected by severe winter weather in the northeastern United States to close, "for as long as deemed necessary for bank operation or public safety."

The OCC has announced that it will host a "Building Blocks for Directors" workshop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center, March 27-29, for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations supervised by the OCC. The workshop combines lectures, discussion, and exercises to provide practical information on the roles and responsibilities of board participation for both new and experienced directors.

The Treasury Department's final rule adjusting maximum civil money penalties for inflation (see "OFAC CMP caps adjusted for inflation") also included adjustments to maximum CMP amounts for Bank Secrecy Act violations. The new maximum penalties are found in revised Table 1 of § 1010.821 of FinCEN's regulations at 31 CFR Part 1010, amended on publication, and applicable retroactively to penalty assessments since January 15, 2017.

The Treasury Department has published, in today's Federal Ledger, a final rule to adjust OFAC-enforced civil monetary penalties (“CMPs”) for inflation as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (collectively referred to herein as “the Act”). This rule adjusts CMPs within the jurisdiction of OFAC to the maximum amount required by the Act. The rule is effective upon publication, and can be applied retroactively to violations since January 15, 2017.

As of January 15, the applicable statutory maximum civil penalty per violation for each statute enforced by OFAC is as follows:

• International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — greater of $289,238 or twice the amount of the underlying transaction;
• Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) — $85,236;
• Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (FNKDA) — $1,437,153;
• Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) — greater of $76,351 or twice the amount of which a financial institution was required to retain possession or control; and
• Clean Diamond Trade Act (CDTA) — $13,066.