Can someone explain the new requirement under FATCA.
If the bank does not have foreign branches but opens accounts for foreign individuals will we be required to report information to the IRS?

This came directly from the IRS:
FATCA requires Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to report directly to the IRS certain information about financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers, or by foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.

It sounds as this only applies to FFIs. Is that correct?

FATCA has no impact when a U.S. bank opens an account for a non U.S. individual. As noted, it is aimed at foreign financial institutions dealing with U.S. taxpayers.

For a U.S. bank, the potential trigger is when you open an interest bearing account for a non U.S. entity. If your bank is not prepared to enter the Labyrinth:

1) Do not open accounts for non U.S. entities or
2) At least do not open interest bearing accounts for non U.S. entities.

Any bank opening accounts for non U.S. entities and asking for advice about how to do it here is truly lost.

From the ABA FATCA Q&A:
Q:
As a U.S. savings bank without any foreign branches, if we open a savings account (which pays monthly interest) for a resident of Australia and get the normal completed W-8BEN from the individual, does FATCA affect our bank?
A:
No – but look at the wire transfer rules

This scenario describes a non-US citizen receiving income from the U.S. What do the wire rules say we should be doing? I did read them but I still didn't quite understand.

We don't have the benefit of seeing what you are talking about. The "wire transfer rules" under BSA?

Honestly, I don't understand the response beyond "No" either. However, if I'm calculating the impact of FATCA, the "No" was all I was looking for.

The ABA recently had a webinar about FATCA and while I did not pay for the webinar they released info afterwards. There were the Q&A's, plus a '2-pager' about wires. You can find their stuff here: http://www.aba.com/Issues/Index/Pages/Issues_ForeignActivityTaxComplianceAct.aspx

I'm finding around here that everyone is having a very difficult time distinguishing FATCA compliance from 1042-S compliance. Since no one wants to hear what I have to say and I've been repeatedly told that this is not my area of concern I guess I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Stick to your guns.

1042S reporting began in 2013. The source of authority is TD 95 - 84 as indicated in IR Bulletin 2012-20. If you can actually get them to read the first document, it will be apparent that the regulation was in the works for more than a decade, years before FATCA existed.