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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.

The October 2016 G.20 Finance Companies data on owned and managed receivables outstanding /auto loans: terms of credit have been released by the Federal Reserve Board.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has acted to disrupt Lashkar-e Tayyiba’s (LeT) fundraising and support networks by designating two of the group’s senior leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). All property and interests in property of these two individuals subject to U.S. jurisdiction are now blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. See our OFAC Update for details.

The CFPB has released its monthly complaint snapshot; this report highlights consumer complaints about debt collection. It shows that the most common complaint about debt collection concerns attempts to collect on a debt that the consumer says is not owed. The report also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from Arizona.

The November Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Index has been released and indicates that nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages increased from October to November, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts:

• The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 3.66 percent for loans closed in late November, up 4 basis points from 3.62 percent in October.
• The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.64 percent, up 4 basis points from 3.60 in October.
• The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $417,000 or less was 3.80 percent, up 4 basis points from 3.76 in October.
• The effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.77 percent in November, up 5 basis points from 3.72 in October. The effective interest rate accounts for the addition of initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage.
• The average loan amount for all loans was $314,700 in November, up $2,000 from $312,700 in October.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published a notice in this morning's Federal Register seeking nominations from the public for membership on the FinCEN Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. New members will be selected for three-year membership terms. Nominations will be accepted through January 27, 2017.

HUD and the Census Bureau have released their new residential sales report for November 2016. Sales of new single-family houses in in November 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, which is 5.2 percent above the revised October rate of 563,000 and 16.5 percent above the November 2015 estimate of 508,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2016 was $305,400; the average sales price was $359,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 250,000, which represents a supply of 5.1 months at the current sales rate.

HUD has announced the awarding of an additional $1.8 billion through its Community Development Bloc Grant -- Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program to help Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida to recover after severe flooding events that occurred earlier in 2016.

The NMLS has posted a notice that it will extend its operating hours on Saturday, December 31, 2016, from 8:00 p.m. ET to Sunday, January 1, 2017, at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) ET. The system will be unavailable on January 1, 2017, and will re-open at 7:00 a.m. ET on Monday, January 2nd. December 31 is the last day of the annual two-month-long renewal window for mortgage loan originator registrations.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated eighteen individuals and five entities in response to the continued acts of violence committed by the Government of Syria, led by Bashar al-Assad, against its own citizens. The designated individuals and entities have provided support or services to the Government of Syria, acted as senior officials of the Government of Syria, supported designated individuals and entities, or aided Syria’s weapons of mass destruction program. As a result of today’s action, any property or interests in property of the designated persons in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within the United States must be blocked. Additionally, transactions by U.S. persons involving the designated persons are generally prohibited. For additional information, see our OFAC Update for December 23.