Top Story Compliance Related

The Federal Reserve Board has announced that it will publish a semi-annual report with aggregate data and other information regarding banking applications (for example, those involving a planned acquisition or new branch office). The report will include statistics on the length of time taken to process applications and notices, the number of approvals, denials, and withdrawals, and the primary reasons for withdrawals.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board have announced the "Advance Approaches" capital framework will permit certain banking organizations to begin using an additional approach to determine their risk-based capital requirements. The framework applies to large, internationally active banking organizations, generally those with at least $250 billion in total consolidated assets or at least $10 billion in total on-balance sheet foreign exposure, and includes the depository institution subsidiaries of those firms. The FRB also issued a final rule clarifying that bank holding companies using the Advanced Approaches framework will incorporate those changes into the capital planning and stress testing cycles that begin October 1, 2015.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the list of bank holding companies that have elected as of February 21, 2014, to be treated as financial holding companies.

New enforcement actions taken against national banks, federal savings associations, and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with such institutions have been released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The orders included a $500,000 Civil Money Penalty assessed against an Indiana bank for inadequacies in its BSA/AML compliance program, and a $43,120 Civil Money Penalty assessed against a Pennsylvania bank for a pattern or practice of violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act and implementing regulations. The BSA/AML and Flood CMPs will be added to BOL's BSA/AML Penalties and Flood Penalties Watch pages, respectively.

In remarks at the Florida International Bankers Association Anti-Money Laundering Conference, Director Calvery discussed FinCEN's activities regarding the BSA obligations of financial institutions that bank marijuana-related businesses, virtual currency, and customer due diligence (CDD).

The CFPB Blog features an article on the over 300,000 complaints received by the CFPB since July 2011. The type of complaints accepted, how they are submitted and what happens after submission are discussed.

The OCC has released a list of ratings received by forty-two national banks and federal savings associations recently evaluated for compliance with CRA.

The OCC has released a list of ratings received by forty-two national banks and federal savings associations recently evaluated for compliance with CRA.

Treasury and the IRS have released the last substantial package of regulations necessary to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It generally requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments made to certain foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that do not agree to identify and report information on U.S. account holders. The proposed and temporary regulations released make additions and clarifications to previously issued FATCA regulations and provide guidance to coordinate FATCA rules with preexisting due diligence, reporting, and withholding requirements under other provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. A Fact Sheet was also released.

Treasury and the IRS have released the last substantial package of regulations necessary to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It generally requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments made to certain foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that do not agree to identify and report information on U.S. account holders. The proposed and temporary regulations released make additions and clarifications to previously issued FATCA regulations and provide guidance to coordinate FATCA rules with preexisting due diligence, reporting, and withholding requirements under other provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. A Fact Sheet was also released.