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The OCC has announced that it has issued a proclamation allowing national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to close offices in areas of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas affected by Tropical Storm Francine.

The OCC expects that only those bank offices directly affected by potentially unsafe conditions will close. Those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers.

FinCEN has updated its Beneficial Ownership Information FAQs webpage, adding Reporting Company questions C.15 and C.16, and updating Reporting Company question C.14 and Initial Report question G.4.

FinCEN on Monday released a Financial Trend Analysis on mail theft-related check fraud incidents based on Bank Secrecy Act data filed in the six months following FinCEN’s issuance of its 2023 alert on this same topic. During the review period, FinCEN received 15,417 BSA reports from 841 financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud, amounting to more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity (the average amount reported was $44,774 per reported incident).

FinCEN identified three primary outcomes after checks were stolen from the U.S. Mail:

• 44 percent were altered and then deposited
• 26 percent were used as templates to create counterfeit checks
• 20 percent were fraudulently signed [indorsed] and deposited

Check manipulation methodologies ranged in sophistication, and many perpetrators tried to avoid interaction with bank personnel. FinCEN also found that banks filed 88 percent of all mail theft-related check fraud reports. Additionally, analysis revealed that financial institutions reported transactional activity or BSA filing subjects linked to every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. While every state was affected, populous states with large urban areas had more reported incidents.

Mail theft-related check fraud losses can affect personal savings, checking accounts, business accounts, and retirement savings, as well as negatively impact financial institutions that typically cover the check fraud losses.

The FDIC has reported that Call Reports from 44,539 FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported aggregate net income of $71.5 billion in second quarter 2024, an increase of $7.3 billion (11.4 percent) from the prior quarter. A decline in noninterest expense and one-time gains on equity security transactions contributed to the quarterly increase. These and other financial results for second quarter 2024 are included in the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile released on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it is seeking public input around the operational practices of the discount window, which provides short-term credit for banks and credit unions. Feedback gathered through this process will be used by the Board and the Reserve Banks, which administer the discount window, to further improve the efficiency and ease of access to discount window and intraday credit.

The request for information seeks input on Federal Reserve operational practices, including: the collection of legal documentation; the process for pledging and withdrawing collateral; the process for requesting, receiving, and repaying discount window loans; the extension of intraday credit; and Reserve Bank communication practices related to the discount window and intraday credit.

The comment period will close 90 days after the request for information is published in the Federal Register.

Publication and comment period update: Published at 89 fr 73415 on 9/10/2024, with a 90-day comment period ending 12/09/2024.

The Treasury Department yesterday announced that OFAC has designated 10 individuals and two entities as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Beginning in early 2024, executives at RT—Russia’s state-funded news media outlet—began a nefarious effort to covertly recruit unwitting American influencers in support of their malign influence campaign. RT used a front company to disguise its own involvement or the involvement of the Russian government in content meant to influence U.S. audiences.

Yesterday’s designations complement law enforcement actions taken by the Department of Justice and the Department of State’s designation of the Rossiya Segodnya media group and five of its subsidiaries, RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik, as Foreign Missions, steps to impose visa restrictions, and release of a Rewards for Justice (RFJ) reward offer of up to $10 million relating to information pertaining to foreign interference in a U.S. election.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties, and information on related OFAC actions, see this September 4, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has issued enforcement actions against two banks.

• First Interstate Bank, Billings, Montana, was assessed a $70,000 civil money penalty for a pattern or practice of violations of Regulation H, 12 C.F.R. § 208.25, which implements the requirements of the National Flood Insurance Act.
• United Texas Bank, Dallas, Texas, received a consent cease and desist order issued jointly by the Federal Reserve Board and the Texas Department of Banking after a May 2023 examination identified deficiencies in its BSA/AML compliance program.
  

The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced charges against six nationally recognized statistical rating organizations, or NRSROs, for significant failures by the firms and their personnel to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders; acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws; agreed to pay combined civil penalties of more than $49 million; and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to address these violations.

• Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty;
• S&P Global Ratings agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty;
• Fitch Ratings, Inc. agreed to pay an $8 million civil penalty;
• HR Ratings de México, S.A. de C.V. agreed to pay a $250,000 civil penalty;
• A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. agreed to pay a $1 million civil penalty; and
• Demotech, Inc. agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty.

The NCUA has reported it has permanently prohibited Luz Araceli Davila-Hernandez, a former employee of Magnifi Financial Credit Union, Melrose, Minnesota, from ever working for a federally insured depository institution.

The FDIC has released a list of enforcement orders issued in July 2024.

• A Consent Order against The State Exchange Bank, Lamont, Oklahoma
• A Consent Order against Chesterfield State Bank, Chesterfield, Illinois
• Prohibition orders against:
  • Raqeel Rashida Alsalam, formerly affiliated with First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Brent D. Torgerson, formerly affiliated with The Union Bank, Beulah, North Dakota
  • Samuel Ortiz-Perez, formerly affiliated with FirstBank Puerto Rico, Santurce, Puerto Rico
  • Leann Athas, formerly affiliated with Bank of Montana, Missoula, Montana