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The Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned two individuals following increasing indications that the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to suppress political opposition in the country, often through violent means. OFAC also added a Moroccan operating in Syria as a specially designated global terrorist. All of the designated individuals’ assets within U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

For more information on OFAC's actions, see our September 28, 2016, OFAC Update.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published at 81 FR 66930 in this morning's Federal Register a Notice of Bureau Official Approval under ECOA concerning the new Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) and the collection of expanded HMDA information about ethnicity and race in 2017. Under Part III of the Notice, the Bureau approved (but does not require) the collection of such information for applications received during calendar year 2017, even though Regulation C doesn't mandate the collection of the expanded data until January 1, 2018. The Notice says the Bureau believes the option to begin collecting the expanded data may provide creditors extra time to implement the changes needed to comply with the updated HMDA rules by January 1, 2018.

For reporting 2017 data on applications on which final action is taken during 2017, only the aggregate categories and codes in the filing instructions for data collected in 2017 will be used, even if applicants have self-identified using the expanded "disaggregated" categories. For applications taken in 2017 on which final action is taken on or after January 1, 2018, institutions can optionally submit data using disaggregated categories if provided by applicants instead of using the transition rule for those submissions.

The CFPB complaint snapshot this month spotlights money transfer complaints. The report shows that consumers continue to experience issues when attempting to resolve problems with disputed transactions. The report also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from Pennsylvania.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its mutual evaluation report on Singapore’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing activities.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced it will return almost $20 million to more than 145,000 consumers across the country who were victimized by One Technologies LP and its two partner companies in an online scheme that lured consumers with “free” access to their credit scores and then billed them a recurring $29.95 monthly fee for credit monitoring they never ordered. The company marketed their credit monitoring programs, MyCreditHealth and ScoreSense, through at least 50 websites, including FreeScore360.com, FreeScoreOnline.com, and ScoreSense.com. The FTC alleged that the defendants violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA), which prohibits charging consumers for goods or services sold online via a negative option unless the seller clearly discloses all material terms before obtaining the consumer’s billing information, obtains the consumer’s express informed consent before making the charge, and provides a simple way to stop recurring charges.

The Federal Reserve Board issued 31 Section 19 Letters during the first half of calendar year 2016. Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act prohibits a person convicted of a crime involving dishonesty or breach of trust from becoming or continuing as an institution-affiliated party with respect to any insured depository institution.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO), after a coordinated investigation, have separately announced settlements with Flurish, Inc., doing business as LendUp, requiring the firm to make restitution to consumers.

The CFPB found that the company did not give consumers the opportunity to build credit and provide access to cheaper loans, as it claimed to consumers it would. The Bureau has ordered the company to provide more than 50,000 consumers with approximately $1.83 million in refunds. The company will also pay a civil penalty of $1.8 million to the Bureau's Civil Penalty Fund.

The DBO found over 385,000 violations of two state consumer protection laws and of the Federal Truth in Lending Act in examinations under those laws and ordered LendUp to pay $1.62 million in consumer refunds, a $100,000 penalty and $965,462 in costs. For details on the settlements with Flurish, Inc., see "LendUp penalized by CFPB and California for violations," in our Penalties pages.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken action against TitleMax parent company TMX Finance LLC for luring consumers into costly loan renewals by presenting them with misleading information about the deals’ terms and costs. The lender also used unfair debt collection tactics that illegally exposed information about debts to borrowers’ employers, friends, and family. The Bureau ordered TMX Finance to stop its unlawful practices and pay a $9 million penalty. For more information, see "TMX Finance LLC pays $9M for lending UDAAP violations," in our Penalties pages.

The Federal Reserve Board has issued an invitation for public comment on a proposal to modify its capital plan and stress testing rules for the 2017 cycle. Among other changes, the proposal would tailor the Federal Reserve's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). It would remove the qualitative assessment of CCAR for large and noncomplex firms, or bank holding companies and intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations with total consolidated assets between $50 billion and $250 billion, on-balance sheet foreign exposure of less than $10 billion, and total consolidated nonbank assets of less than $75 billion. The proposed rule would take effect for the 2017 CCAR. The proposal would reinforce the Federal Reserve's less stringent expectations for these less systemic firms, which are generally engaged in traditional banking activities. The proposed rule would also reduce certain reporting requirements for these firms, which would continue to be subject to the quantitative requirements of CCAR, as well as normal supervision by the Federal Reserve regarding their capital planning. Comments on the proposal are due by November 25, 2016.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated one company and four individuals tied to the Government of North Korea’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). OFAC imposed sanctions on Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Company Ltd (DHID) for acting for or on behalf of Korea Kwangson Banking Corporation (KKBC), which was previously designated by the United States and the United Nations for providing financial services in support of WMD proliferators. OFAC also designated Ma Xiaohong, Zhou Jianshu, Hong Jinhua, and Luo Chuanxu for acting for or on behalf of DHID. Any property or interests in property of DHID, Ma Xiaohong, Zhou Jianshu, Hong Jinhua, and Luo Chuanxu in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within the United States are now blocked. Additionally, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving these designated persons.

In a related action, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed criminal charges against DHID, Ma Xiaohong, Zhou Jianshu, Hong Jinhua, and Luo Chuanxu for conspiring to evade U.S. economic sanctions and violating OFAC’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations as well as conspiring to launder money instruments. Justice also announced the filing of a civil forfeiture action for all funds contained in 25 bank accounts belonging to DHID and its front companies and a request for a restraining order to be sent to China for all of the funds based upon the allegation of the United States that the funds represent property involved in money laundering.

See "OFAC targets supporters of North Korea's weapons program," in our OFAC Updates, for additional information on these actions.