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The CFPB has announced its publication of a new “issue spotlight” report on Cash-Back Fees.

The CFPB sampled eight large retail companies (Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Kroger, Albertsons, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Target) and assessed their practices for charging cash-back fees. Three companies in the sample — Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, and Kroger — charge fees for cash-back service. At Dollar General and Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, cash-back fees for small withdrawal amounts are the highest in the sample ($1 fee or more for cash-back amounts under $50). Kroger, the country’s largest grocery chain, recently announced new charges at their Harris Teeter stores (75 cents for $100 cash back or less), and charges 50 cents for up to $100 cash back at their other brand stores such as Ralph’s, Fred Meyer, and others.

The CFPB's release says “Americans are paying tens of millions of dollars in fees to access their own money when getting ‘cash back’ at large retail stores when making a purchase with a debit or prepaid card, and that these cash-back fees are occurring against the backdrop of bank mergers, branch closures, and prevalence of out-of-network ATM fees that have reduced the supply of free cash access points for consumers.”

• CFPB Director’s Notebook statement

[Editor’s Note: The ABA noted this morning that public data indicate that nearly 96 percent of Americans live within a few miles of a bank or credit union branch.]

The OCC has announced community bank director and senior management workshops scheduled in nine cities across the country in September and October. The list includes the OCC's basic Building Blocks workshop and its Risk Management Series, which includes workshops on Risk Governance, Credit Risk, Operational Risk, Compliance Risk, and Capital Markets.

Most of the sessions are available for both in-person or virtual attendance.

Yesterday, FinCEN issued a press release reminding financial institutions to monitor for and report suspicious transactional activity related to the illicit fentanyl supply chain and the trafficking of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

FinCEN has previously published resources on the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other synthetic opioids and the precursor chemicals and associated manufacturing equipment needed to synthesize these deadly drugs:

• Supplemental Advisory on the Procurement of Precursor Chemicals and Manufacturing Equipment Used for the Synthesis of Illicit Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids (June 2024)
• Advisory to Financial Institutions on Illicit Financial Schemes and Methods Related to the Trafficking of Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids (August 2019)

On Friday, the Department of the Treasury announced that OFAC and the State Department targeted nearly 400 individuals and entities both in Russia and outside its borders—including in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East—whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions. The United States government will continue to support Ukraine as it defends its independence and hold Russia accountable for its aggression.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties and vessels, see this August 23, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The FDIC has issued FIL-59-2024 with guidance intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Vermont affected by the severe storm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides from July 9 – 11, 2024. The initial designated areas include Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, and Washington Counties. FEMA may change the list of affected counties after damage assessments are completed.

The OCC yesterday released enforcement actions recently taken against national banks and federal savings associations (banks), and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with banks the OCC supervises.

Formal Agreements with:

• 1st National Bank, Lebanon, Ohio, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning, capital planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management
• Generations Bank, Seneca Falls, New York, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to board oversight, strategic planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management.
• Maple City Savings Bank, FSB, Hornell, New York, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to board oversight and corporate governance, strategic and capital planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management, and a violation relating to transactions with affiliates
• Slovenian S&LA of Franklin-Conemaugh, Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning, succession planning, balance sheet management, internal audit, and the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) internal controls, audit, and training, and violations of 12 CFR 21.21 (BSA/AML compliance program) and 31 CFR 1020.210 (Customer Due Diligence)

Orders of Prohibition against:

• James Gomes, former branch manager at a New York, New York, branch of TD Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for accessing an elderly bank customer’s accounts without authorization and transferring over $200,000 from the customer’s accounts to his own accounts
• Priscilla Jones-Cotton, former branch manager at a Fort Myers, Florida, branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for stealing, embezzling, or otherwise misappropriating approximately $32,000 from the bank
• Deidre Katschke, former universal vault specialist at BOKF, N.A., Tulsa, Oklahoma, for misappropriating approximately $42,500 in cash from the bank
• Maria Salazar, former teller at a Louisville, Kentucky, branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for conducting unauthorized debit card transactions using bank customer accounts that totaled approximately $10,200

Notices of Charges for an Order of Prohibition against:

• Roberto A. Garcia, former personal banker at a North Miami, Florida, branch of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Columbus, Ohio. The Notice of Charges alleges, among other things, that Garcia stole over $12,000 in cash from the bank, engaged in account takeovers of bank customer accounts, and used customer accounts to pay personal expenses.
• Lexus Inez Lewis, former fraud operations specialist, at a Jacksonville, Florida, branch of Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Notice of Charges alleges, among other things, that Lewis made false representations in her employment application and became employed at the bank in violation of federal law; caused fraudulent transactions totaling at least $389,000 to occur on bank customers’ credit card accounts; and kept bank equipment without authorization

The FDIC has issued FIL-58-2024 with guidance to assist financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of South Dakota affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, and flooding from June 16 to July 8, 2024. As of August 21, the affected areas included Davison, Lincoln, Turner, and Union counties.

OFAC has announced efforts to modernize its infrastructure and approaches to engaging with stakeholders to ensure sanctions are easily understood and enforceable — a key recommendation highlighted in Treasury’s 2021 Sanctions Review that OFAC is working to implement.

To ensure that its guidance remains up to date and relevant for the public, OFAC is updating many of its FAQs on general sanctions questions and issues. These FAQs are often OFAC's most viewed guidance, as they deal with basic principles of sanctions implementation. The first installment of updated FAQs is available now (FAQs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 91, 126, 468, and 469) and includes guidance on key topics such as what OFAC means by “blocked property” and how to verify the authenticity of an OFAC document.

OFAC will continue reviewing FAQs through an ongoing process focused on providing up-to-date and useful information to the public. OFAC will announce subsequent FAQ updates via its Recent Actions Notices.

The OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, CFPB, FHFA, CFTC, SEC, and Treasury Department have published [89 FR 67890] in today's Federal Register, their previously announced notice of proposed rulemaking to establish data standards to promote interoperability of financial regulatory data across these agencies. Final standards established pursuant to this rulemaking will later be adopted for certain collections of information in separate rulemakings by the agencies or through other actions taken by the agencies. The agencies are proposing this rule as required by the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022.

Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 60 days, through October 21, 2024.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced settled charges against New York-based registered transfer agent Equiniti Trust Company LLC, formerly known as American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC, for failing to assure that client securities and funds were protected against theft or misuse. Those failures led to the loss of more than $6.6 million of client funds as a result of two separate cyber intrusions in 2022 and 2023. American Stock Transfer was able to recover approximately $2.6 million of the losses and fully reimbursed the clients for their losses. To settle the SEC’s charges, Equiniti agreed to pay a civil penalty of $850,000.

• SEC Order