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Top Story Compliance Related

01/04/2017

Did your bank or an MLO miss the deadline?

The NMLS has announced the 2017 Renewal Period has closed and the Reactivation Period began on January 1st. Lending organizations and MLOs who missed the December 31 deadline (or who failed to complete the renewal attestation by the deadline) have been placed in "inactive" status. Review the NMLS Annual Renewal page for assistance in reactivating registration.

01/02/2017

FDIC lists recent enforcement actions

The FDIC has announced orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals during the month of November. Included were two orders of prohibition from further participation combined with orders to pay civil money penalties issued to two former Georgia bankers. There were also three consent orders, six additional removal/prohibition orders, and two Section 19 application orders.

01/02/2017

OCC updates Comptroller's Handbook

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's Bulletin 2016-47, issued December 30, 2016, announced a revision of the "Internal and External Audits" booklet of the Comptroller's Handbook. In addition to replacing the April 2003 booklet of the same name, the revised booklet replaces sections 350 and 355 of the Office of Thrift Supervision Examination Handbook, which were issued in February 2002 and April 2011.

01/02/2017

OFAC targets new Yazuka criminal syndicate

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced it has sanctioned the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a syndicate of the Japanese Yakuza criminal network. Specifically, OFAC designated two entities and three individuals: the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, three of its key executive members – Kunio Inoue, Osamu Teraoka, and Takashi Ikeda – and its core clan, the Yamaken-gumi, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581, which targets significant transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and their supporters. As a result of these actions, all assets of those designated that are in the United States or in the control of U.S. persons are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The Yakuza has relationships with criminal affiliates in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, where it uses front companies in legitimate industries, including construction, real estate, and finance, to launder money and hide illicit proceeds. In the United States, the Yakuza has been involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

See OFAC's SDN List Update for identification information on the targeted individuals and entities.

01/02/2017

Streamlined Call Report for small institutions

The FFIEC, on behalf of its member banking agencies (the Federal Reserve System, OCC and FDIC), has announced approval of a Federal Register notice finalizing the reporting requirements for a new and streamlined Call Report for small financial institutions. The streamlined Call Report would reduce the existing Call Report from 85 to 61 pages, resulting from the removal of approximately 40 percent of the nearly 2,400 data items. In response to comments received on their initial FRN published in August 2016, the agencies have reduced the frequency of certain reporting requirements from the original proposal. The final revised Call Report data collection is now being submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. Comments on the submission to the OMB will be accepted for 30 days following actual publication.

The proposed changes would apply to financial institutions with domestic offices only and less than $1 billion in total assets, which represents approximately 90 percent of all institutions required to file Call Reports. The FFIEC anticipates that the streamlined Call Report will be available for use as early as March 31, 2017.

UPDATE: FDIC FIL-1-2017 was issued January 4, 2017, concerning these Call Report changes.

12/30/2016

Board diversity and inclusion strategic plan for 2016-19

The Federal Reserve Board’s diversity and inclusion strategic plan for 2016-19 has been posted on its Diversity and Inclusion site. The workforce data provided to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEO-1 Survey Data), diversity and inclusion standards, and equal employment opportunity standards were also posted. In addition to promoting diversity at the Board and throughout the System, the Board's Office of Diversity and Inclusion will play an integral role in the development of standards to assess the diversity practices at entities regulated by the Federal Reserve.

12/30/2016

Agencies make annual CRA threshold changes

The FDIC, Federal Reserve Board and OCC have announced the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define small bank, small savings association, intermediate small bank, and intermediate small savings association under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations. The annual adjustments are required by the CRA rules. Financial institutions are evaluated under different CRA examination procedures based upon their asset-size classification. Those meeting the small and intermediate small institution asset-size thresholds are not subject to the reporting requirements applicable to large banks and savings associations unless they choose to be evaluated as a large institution.

The changes will be effective on publication of the adjustments in the Federal Register. As a result of the adjustments (which have been posted to BOL's Regulations pages for Federal Reserve Regulation BB):

  • "Small bank" or "small savings association" means an institution that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had assets of less than $1.226 billion.
  • "Intermediate small bank" or "intermediate small savings association" means a small institution with assets of at least $307 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar years and less than $1.226 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years.

In addition to these adjustments, the FDIC is amending its CRA Notice requirements in Appendix B of its CRA regulations at 12 CFR Part 345 to reflect two technical changes concerning the manner in which the agency will receive public comments considered in the CRA examination process.

12/30/2016

Executive Order adds 11 to SDN List

The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced yesterday that the president has issued an Executive Order (EO), "Taking Additional Steps To Address The National Emergency With Respect To Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities." The new EO amends EO 13694, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.” The amendments allow for the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities determined to be responsible for tampering, altering, or causing the misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions. Five entities and four individuals are identified in the Annex of the amended Executive Order and have been added to OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List). OFAC designated an additional two individuals who also will be added to the SDN List. For details on the entities and individuals designated, see our OFAC Update.

12/29/2016

Final rule prohibiting dealing/investing in metals

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has announced its approval of a final rule to prohibit national banks and federal savings associations (FSAs) from dealing or investing in industrial or commercial metals. The final rule covers metal, including alloy, in a physical form primarily suited to industrial or commercial uses. Examples include copper cathodes and aluminum T-bars. The final rule supersedes a prior OCC determination permitting national banks to trade copper. The rule continues to recognize that covered institutions may hold industrial or commercial metal under authorities that are distinct from dealing and investing and does not change those authorities. For example, the institutions may acquire industrial or commercial metal through foreclosures on loans and then sell the metal to mitigate loan losses. The rule will be effective April 1, 2017. Institutions will have one year from that date (with the possibility of up to four one-year extensions) to divest existing holdings acquired through dealing or investing activities.

UPDATE: Published 12/30/2016 in the Federal Register.

12/29/2016

Lew on Wall Street Reform and financial system

In an article published online and to be included in the upcoming edition of the New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, Treasury Secretary Lew outlines how Wall Street Reform strengthened our financial system and laid the foundation for long-run growth by reorienting our regulatory system to be more flexible and forward-looking. In the piece, the Secretary underscores how Wall Street Reform not only fixed what was broken in 2008, but also set up mechanisms and institutions to identify and respond to new and emerging risks. Maintaining these structures, Lew argues, is imperative to helping prevent future crises.

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