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The Federal Reserve System has updated its FRB/US model package as of December 30, 2015. The main FRB/US model package is a self-contained set of equations, data, programs and documentation that enables various types of simulations and provides information about the model's structure.

The OCC has issued a reminder to national banks and federal savings associations of guidance to assist financial institutions and customers affected by extreme weather, such as the recent flooding along the Mississippi River. In addition, the OCC issued a proclamation allowing national banks and federal savings associations at their discretion to close offices located in the Midwest and Southern United States and affected by the recent severe weather.

The NCUA has announced the liquidation of First Hawaiian Homes Federal Credit Union of Hoolehua, Hawaii. Molokai Community Federal Credit Union of Kaunakakai, Hawaii, immediately assumed First Hawaiian Homes’ assets, member shares and most loans. First Hawaiian Homes Federal Credit Union is the eleventh federally insured credit union liquidation in 2015. The closed credit union served 1,379 members and had assets of nearly $3.2 million as of its most recent call report. It was chartered in 1937 to serve residents of Molokai, Hawaii.

The Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced its assessment of a $200,000 civil money penalty against a Los Angeles precious metals business, as well as its owner and compliance officer. B.A.K. Precious Metals, Inc., its sole owner and its designated compliance officer have admitted to willfully violating federal anti-money laundering (AML) laws, commonly known as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). For details, see our Penalty Page entry on FinCEN's announcement.

The FTC announced its agenda for PrivacyCon, a first-of-its-kind event, featuring 19 presentations of original research on important consumer privacy and security issues by leading academics from universities and think tanks from around the world. The conference, which will take place in Washington on January 14, 2016, will also include discussion sessions about the policy implications of the research being conducted with thought leaders from academia, research, consumer advocacy, and industry. The event will also be available via live webcast.

The Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), signed into law on December 18 as Division Q of the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, contains several pension- and benefits-related provisions, including permanent extensions of temporary tax provisions that had been routinely extended by Congress on a one- or two-year basis, and some provisions designed to reduce tax refund fraud. Although we are still wading through the verbiage of the law, some of the provisions include:

• Nontaxable IRA transfers to eligible charities made permanent, beginning with tax years starting after December 31, 2014.
• Rollovers are allowed from retirement plans to SIMPLE accounts.
• The waiver of 10% early withdrawal tax for distributions made to public safety employees was expanded to include additional categories of federal employees.
• Extension through tax year 2016 of the treatment of mortgage insurance premiums as qualified residence interest.
• Beginning with reporting for tax year 2016, W-2s and certain reports of non-employee compensation must be filed by the payer on or before January 31 of the year following the calendar year to which they relate.
• Beginning with credits or refunds made after December 31, 2016, certain tax refunds for overpayments will not be permitted before February 15 of the following year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has released a list of 23 administrative enforcement actions taken during November. The list included four consent orders, nine removal and prohibition orders, three Section 19 orders, one $35,000 civil money penalty (CMP) order against an individual, and six terminations of prior orders. In the CMP order, the FDIC said it had determined it had reason to believe that the individual had engaged in "violations of law or regulations, recklessly engaged in unsafe or unsound practices, or committed breaches of her fiduciary duty to" her bank and that her actions "constituted a pattern of misconduct or caused more than a minimal loss" to the bank.

The NCUA Board has published a final rule [80 FR 80635] amending its share insurance regulations at 12 CFR Part 745 to implement statutory amendments to the Federal Credit Union Act resulting from the recent enactment of the Credit Union Share Insurance Fund Parity Act. The statutory amendments require NCUA to provide enhanced, pass-through share insurance for interest on lawyers trust accounts (IOLTA) and other similar escrow accounts. As its name implies, the Insurance Parity Act ensures that NCUA and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insure IOLTAs and other similar escrow accounts in an equivalent manner. The amendments will become effective January 27, 2016.

The Federal Reserve Banks have published the Fedwire Funds Service Disclosure and the Fedwire Securities Service Disclosure under the Principles for Financial Market Intrastructures, as required by the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk (PSR). The PSR sets out the views and related standards of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System regarding the management of risks in financial market infrastructures like the Fedwire Services.

FinCEN has published a Notice of Availability [80 FR 80308] of two related documents that are part of the proposed rulemaking on Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions that was published on August 4, 2014: a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA). Comments on the RIA and/or IRFA will be accepted through January 25, 2016.

The comment period for the August 4, 2014, proposed rule closed on October 3, 2014. FinCEN received a total of 135 comments representing a wide range of views covering most aspects of the NPRM. A large number of commenters asserted that the NPRM lacked sufficient data to support its estimate of costs and substantially underestimated implementation and compliance-related costs. Based on comments and information received during further outreach to some financial institutions that provided comments on the proposal, FinCEN determined that the implementation and compliance-related costs may exceed $100 million annually, making this rulemaking an “economically significant regulatory action.” In such cases, agencies are required to conduct an RIA, and publish it for comment.