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FinCEN has published [89 FR 96708] an invitation to the public to nominate financial institutions, trade groups, and non-Federal regulators or law enforcement agencies for membership in the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG). New members will be selected for three-year membership terms.

BSAAG membership is open to financial institutions subject to the BSA, trade groups that represent financial institutions subject to the BSA, and federal and non-federal regulators and law enforcement agencies that are located within the United States. The BSAAG is the means by which the Treasury receives advice on the reporting requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and informs private sector representatives on how the information they provide is used.

Nominations must be emailed to BSAAG@fincen.gov, and received by January 6, 2025.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has issued a consent Cease and Desist Order to First of Murphysboro Corp., Murphysboro, Illinois (FMC), a registered bank holding company that owns The First Bank and Trust Company of Murphysboro, after a recent inspection of FMC by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis identified deficiencies with respect to the operations of FMC, including FMC's ability to serve as a source of strength to the bank, and with respect to compliance with rules related to affiliate transactions.

The Treasury Department has reported that OFAC has sanctioned five individuals and four entities — including Pullman Global Solutions LLC, a Wyoming-based entity that is owned 50 percent or more by a sanctioned individual — that are associated with or leverage the TGR Group, a sprawling international network of businesses and employees that have facilitated significant sanctions circumvention on behalf of Russian elites.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals and entities, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The CFPB yesterday announced it has taken action to permanently ban Student Loan Pro and Judith Noh, its owner, from offering or providing consumer financial products. The CFPB alleges that Student Loan Pro and Noh violated federal law by charging borrowers upfront fees to file paperwork on their behalf to access free debt-relief programs available to consumers with federal student loans. The CFPB’s stipulated judgment, if entered by the court, would also require Noh to take steps to dissolve Student Loan Pro and a related business, FNZA Marketing, LLC, and pay a civil money penalty.

According to the CFPB's press release, Student Loan Pro is a California sole proprietorship formed in 2015 by Noh that telemarketed debt-relief services for consumers with federal student loan debt. The CFPB filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that Student Loan Pro, Noh, and Syed Gilani—Student Loan Pro’s manager and owner-in-fact—violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule by requesting and receiving advance fees, initially running as high as $795, for its debt-relief services. The company’s services included filing paperwork on consumers’ behalf to apply for programs that were already available to borrowers for free from the United States Department of Education.

The Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 C.F.R. part 310) prohibits sellers and telemarketers from requesting or receiving advance fees for any debt-relief service before renegotiating, settling, reducing, or otherwise altering the terms of at least one of a consumer’s debts, and before a consumer has made at least one payment on such altered debt. Student Loan Pro’s advance-fee violations cost approximately 3,300 consumers nearly $3.5 million in advance fees.

• CFPB Complaint
• Proposed stipulated judgment and order

The FDIC, OCC, and Federal Reserve Board have issued a joint press release to announce their third notice requesting comment to reduce regulatory burden. The Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 requires the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and federal bank regulatory agencies to review their regulations at least once every 10 years to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements for their supervised institutions.

To facilitate this review, the agencies divided their regulations into 12 categories and are now soliciting comments on their regulations for three categories: Rules of Procedure, Safety and Soundness, and Securities. The public has 90 days from publication of the notice in the Federal Register to comment on the relevant regulations.

The agencies will request comment on regulations in the remaining categories in 2025, asking the public to identify the regulations they believe are outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome.

The Treasury Department yesterday announced that the U.S. is imposing sanctions on 35 entities and vessels that play a critical role in transporting illicit Iranian petroleum to foreign markets. This action imposes additional costs on Iran’s petroleum sector following Iran’s attack against Israel on October 1, 2024, as well as Iran’s announced nuclear escalations. Petroleum revenues provide the Iranian regime with the resources to fund its nuclear program, develop advanced drones and missiles, and provide ongoing financial and material support for the terrorist activities of its regional proxies.

For the names and identification information of the designated entities and vessels, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2024-33 announcing it has issued version 1.1 of its “Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices and Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. The booklet contains information for examiners regarding supervision of a bank’s practices related to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits banks from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices (UDAP), and sections 1031 and 1036 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP).

The updated booklet—

• provides further clarity regarding sound risk management practices and guidance to examiners regarding overdraft services.
• incorporates updates from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding data protection and information security.
• includes an updated version of the “Appendix B: UDAP and UDAAP Risk Indicators.”
• reflects OCC and interagency issuances that have been published or rescinded since June 2020.
• includes other minor updates for general clarity.

The FDIC has released its December 2024 list of banks examined for CRA compliance. This month's list includes 65 institutions whose most recent CRA evaluations have been made public. CRA evaluations are assigned one of four ratings: Outstanding, Satisfactory, Needs to Improve, or Substantial Non-compliance.

The December 2024 list includes 60 banks whose evaluations were rated Satisfactory. Two banks — one in Brentwood, Tennessee, and one in New York, New York — were rated "Needs to Improve.

We congratulate three institutions whose evaluations were rated Outstanding:

• Bank of Wiggins, Wiggins, Mississippi
• Liberty Bank, Middletown, Connecticut
• Waukesha State Bank, Waukesha, Wisconsin

The OCC, Federal Reserve Board, and FDIC have jointly published [89 FR 95786] in today's Federal Register their collective annual report to congressional committees describing differences among the accounting and capital standards used by the agencies for insured depository institutions.

As of September 30, 2024, the agencies have not identified any material differences among the agencies' accounting standards applicable to institutions.

With regard to differences in capital requirements, in 2013 the agencies revised the risk-based and leverage capital rule for institutions (capital rule) which harmonized the agencies' capital rule in a comprehensive manner. Since 2013, the agencies have revised the capital rule on several occasions, further reducing the number of differences in the agencies' capital rule. Today, only a few differences remain, which are statutorily mandated for certain categories of institutions, or which reflect certain technical, generally nonmaterial differences among the agencies' capital rule. No new material differences were identified in the capital standards applicable to institutions in this report compared to the previous report submitted by the agencies.

The FDIC has updated its webpage Questions and Answers Related to the FDIC's Part 328 Final Rule to add several answers to a growing collection of frequently asked questions relating to the updated regulation from stakeholders, including banks, trade associations, tech companies, vendors, and others.