Top Story Compliance Related

Our research in the Federal Reserve Board's CRA evaluations archives reveals that the Reserve Banks released 23 CRA evaluation ratings of state-chartered member banks in January.

• Seventeen of those banks received evaluation ratings of Satisfactory.
• We congratulate six banks that received evaluation ratings of Outstanding:
  • 1st Source Bank, South Bend, Indiana
  • Dime Community Bank, Bridgehampton, New York
  • First Financial Bank, Abilene, Texas
  • The Killbuck Savings Bank, Killbuck, Ohio
  • Midwest BankCentre, Saint Louis, Missouri
  • Whitaker Bank, Inc., Lexington, Kentucky

The FDIC has released a list of 60 state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The list covers evaluation ratings that the FDIC assigned to institutions in November 2024.

• Fifty-seven of the banks received evaluation ratings of Satisfactory.
• We congratulate three banks that received ratings of Outstanding:
  • Belmont Savings Bank, Bellaire, Ohio
  • Community Valley Bank, El Centro, California
  • Spring Bank, Bronx, New York

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency yesterday issued a list of Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluations that became public in January.

• Fifteen of the OCC-supervised institutions received Satisfactory ratings on their evaluations.
• Two institutions — United Trust Bank, Palos Heights, Illinois, and First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Lorain, Lorain, Ohio — received Needs to Improve ratings.
• We congratulate three institutions that received Outstanding ratings:
  • Nicolet National Bank, Green Bay, Wisconsin
  • Patrons Bank, National Association, Okmulgee, Oklahoma
  • Stearns Bank National Association, St. Cloud, Minnesota

The CFPB yesterday announced that, on Friday, President Trump designated Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bloomberg Law reported, citing a memo to CFPB staff obtained by Bloomberg, that Bessent has ordered the CFPB to stop all rulemaking, communications, litigation, and other activities.

The NCUA on Friday reported it issued one prohibition notice in January 2025. Shana M. Ware, formerly employed by Genisys Credit Union, Auburn Hills, Michigan, was notified that, because she had been convicted in October 2024 of one count of Embezzlement from a Financial Institution, one count of Forgery, and one count of Embezzlement by an Agent or Trustee of $20,000 to $50,000 related to her misconduct at the credit union, she is prohibited by law from becoming an institution-affiliated party of any insured depository institution.

The FDIC, OCC, and Federal Reserve Board have issued a joint press release announcing a virtual public outreach meeting on March 6, 2025, as part of their review of regulations, as required by law. The Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA) requires the agencies, with input from the public, to review their regulations at least once every 10 years to identify any outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements applicable to their supervised institutions.

The outreach meeting is an opportunity for interested stakeholders to present their views on the six categories of regulations listed in the first two Federal Register notices: Applications and Reporting; Powers and Activities; International Operations; Consumer Protection; Directors, Officers and Employees; and Money Laundering.

The FDIC regularly releases a monthly list of its enforcement orders and decisions near the end of the month following the issuance of the orders. On Friday, the FDIC issued its January 2025 list of orders and decisions issued in December 2024. Among those enforcement actions were—

• An order for assessment of a $650,000 civil money penalty against WEX Bank, Sandy, Utah, after a finding that the bank engaged in deceptive acts and unfair practices in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act
• An order to pay a $47,000 civil money penalty against State Bank of DeKalb, DeKalb, Texas, after a finding that the bank violated HMDA and Regulation C, by failing to report accurate data about its HMDA-applicable denied, withdrawn, and incomplete applications for 2021 and 2022.
• An order modifying a 2023 order of prohibition and order to pay a civil money penalty against Diana Yates, formerly affiliated with The Bank of Oswego, Lake Oswego, Oregon. The order of prohibition was reissued; the civil money penalty was canceled.
• A consent order against Bank of Vici, Vici, Oklahoma
• An order for assessment of a $105,000 civil money penalty and removal/prohibition against Frank William Bonan II, former chairman of the board of Grand Rivers Community Bank, Grand Chain, Illinois
• An Notice of Charges and of Hearing for an order of restitution of $352,450 and prohibition directed to Danielle Solomon, affiliated with Truist Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Removal/Prohibition orders against—
  • Nigar Scott, Truist Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Vicki L. Grisham, The First State Bank, Abernathy, Texas
  • Kelly M. Huffman, First Security Bank - West, Beulah, North Dakota (with order to pay civil money penalty of $15,000)
  • Oscar Gonzales Bono (with three aliases), NVE Bank, Englewood, New Jersey
  • Sharna L. Carter, First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Rodolpho R. Pagesy Roussel, Oriental Bank, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Barbara Lejeune Chaisson, JD Bank, Jennings, Louisiana
• Voluntary Termination of Deposit Insurance orders for Washington Business Bank, Olympia, Washington; TSB Bank, Lomira, Wisconsin; First National Bank Northwest Florida, Panama City, Florida; and Northside Community Bank, Burnee, Illinois

In a recent CFPB Blog article, Zixta Q. Martinez, Deputy Director of the CFPB and Chair (since April 2022) of the FFIEC's Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC), provided an informal update on the ASC's progress toward its goals of ensuring appraisals are performed accurately and without bias and promoting a qualified, diverse, and plentiful resource of appraisers across the U.S.

The ASC has issued a proposed rule (89 FR 96912, comments due by February 4, 2025) that would formally implement ASC enforcement authority with respect to state appraiser certifying and licensing agencies, including authority to impose sanctions in ineffective appraiser regulatory programs. The ASC has also resumed on-site compliance reviews of state appraiser and AMC regulatory programs, and has issued 58 final reports. Five of those reports rated the reviewed state programs as "Needs Improvement," and four were rated "Unsatisfactory."

With prodding by the ASC, The Appraisal Foundation's Board of Trustees voted to change its governance structure in December 2023. Paying sponsors can no longer directly appoint board members, and the board's composition goals now include consumer advocates, civil rights advocates, and fair housing advocates.

On June 22, 2023, the Foundation’s Appraiser Qualifications Board also updated the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria to make fair housing education a required component of an appraiser's qualifying and continuing education. The ASC provided comments on revisions. The updated Criteria will go into effect on January 1, 2026. The ASC staff are now attending closed sessions of the Foundation's three Boards to carry out the ASC’s monitor and review mandate.

Yesterday, the CFPB issued a Stipulated Consent Order against Wise US Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Wise PLC, a global electronic money services provider, ordering Wise to pay nearly $2.5 million for a series of illegal actions, including advertising inaccurate fees and failing to properly disclose exchange rates and other costs. Wise allows customers to send, receive, and store remittances through a mobile app and prepaid accounts and debit cards.

The CFPB found the company misled customers in the United States about its ATM fees and failed to properly disclose other fees. When people sent money that did not arrive on time, Wise failed to refund the remittance fees in the timeframe required by law. Overall, the company’s actions led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in harm to consumers. The CFPB is ordering Wise to pay approximately $450,000 in redress to harmed consumers and to pay a $2.025 million civil money penalty.

The CFPB found that Wise violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by advertising inaccurate ATM fees and charges to U.S. customers. The CFPB also found that Wise violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act in a variety of ways, such as failing to properly disclose exchange rates and failing to refund fees when funds were not available to the recipient on time.

• Consent Order [56 page PDF]
• CFPB 1/30/2025 Press Release

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released its annual List of Consumer Reporting Companies. The list identifies specialty reporting companies that collect and sell access to people’s data, including individuals’ finances, employment, check writing histories, or rental history records. People can use the list to, among other things, request their consumer reporting data, dispute inaccuracies, and block access to their credit reporting data through security freezes. The list also informs consumers about the types of personal financial information that is collected for credit and other consumer reports.