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The NCUA has announced it issued two prohibition notices and one consent order in March 2024, permanently prohibiting individuals from participating in the affairs of any federally insured depository institution.

• Sarah C. Conley, a former employee of Summit Federal Credit Union, Rochester, New York, received a notice of prohibition, having been convicted of grand larceny in connection with illegal activities at the credit union
• Carlene Bartley, formerly employed by Municipal Credit Union, New York, New York, was issued a notice of prohibition, having pleaded guilty to, and having been convicted on, charges of grand larceny
• Esther A. Olson, a former assistant branch manager of Educational Employees Credit Union, Fresno, California, received a consent order of prohibition, after a finding that she had embezzled funds from member accounts, including the withdrawal of over $60,000 from four different members' share accounts

Bloomberg Law has reported that a federal judge in Texas has blocked banking regulators’ rewrite of their Community Reinvestment Act rules, giving banks a reprieve from new regulations that had been set to take effect today.

The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency went beyond the bounds of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act in their final rules issued last October, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas said in a ruling on Friday.

The court enjoined the agencies from enforcing the regulations pending the resolution of a lawsuit brought in February by the ABA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and five national and state associations, and pushed back the April 1, 2024, effective date, along with all other implementation dates, day for day, for each day the court's injunction remains in place.

The FDIC has updated the following sections of its Consumer Compliance Examination Manual (CEM):

• Communicating Findings (II-6.1): Updated to clarify when the self-identification of violations is considered a strength of a bank’s Compliance Management System
• Expedited Funds Availability Act (VI-1.1): Updated with technical changes related to regulatory dollar-amount thresholds and large deposit hold times
• FTC Rule - Preservation of Claims and Defenses (VII-2.1): Removed an invalid exception in a chart

The CFPB has released its 2023 Consumer Response Annual Report. The report indicates that during 2023, the Bureau sent more than 1.3 million complaints to over 3,400 companies for review and response.

The report shows a continued increase in credit or consumer reporting complaints, with more than one million of them sent to the three nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Consumers also raised issues about fraudulent activity in nearly every product category, including credit or consumer reporting, debt collection, checking or savings accounts, and credit cards.

The FDIC has released a list of enforcement actions it took in February 2024.

• Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, Belzoni, Mississippi, was assessed an $80,500 civil money penalty for a pattern or practice of flood insurance-related violations
• Robert Christopher Rodgers, former president of The Citizens Bank, Hickman, Kentucky, received a Removal/Prohibition Order with assessment of a $7,000 civil money penalty after a finding that he exceeded his lending authority by originating unsecured loans and approving overdrafts for a customer of the bank; continuing to approve overdrafts despite the customer's failure to pay loans and existing overdrafts, and failing to inform the bank's board of the extent of the overdrafts, resulting in a loss to the bank of over $800,000.
• Rhenae K. Risher, a former employee of Bank of Morton, Morton, Mississippi, was issued a Removal/Prohibition order after a finding that she manipulated the bank's general ledger accounts to cash and pay checks of her son's trucking company to avoid overdrawing his business checking account, causing a loss to the bank of over $255,000.