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On Friday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC has imposed sanctions on four individuals with links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including members of an ISIS-linked human smuggling network. The investigations into these targets, as well as their subsequent designations, were taken in close coordination with the Government of Türkiye. As a result of this close cooperation, the Government of Türkiye concurrently took its own domestic action against this network.

Also on Friday, the State Department announced its designation of Tzav 9, a violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing, and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

For additional information on the sanctioned parties, see BankersOnline’s June 14, 2024, OFAC Update.

The FDIC has issued FIL-33-2024 with guidance intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Mississippi — Hancock, Hinds, Humphreys, Madison, Neshoba, and Scott Counties — affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding from April 8 to April 11, 2024.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced it has issued sweeping new measures guided by G7 commitments to intensify the pressure on Russia for its continued cruel and unprovoked war against Ukraine. Yesterday’s actions ratchet up the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions that deal with Russia’s war economy; restrict the ability of Russian military-industrial base to take advantage of certain U.S. software and information technology (IT) services; and, together with the Department of State, target more than 300 individuals and entities both in Russia and outside its borders—including in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Caribbean—whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions.

To help clarify the risk foreign financial institutions face by conducting or facilitating significant transactions or providing any service involving Russia’s designated banks, OFAC has updated the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) information for five sanctioned Russian financial institutions, to include the addresses and aliases of their foreign locations.

Specifically, OFAC has updated the listings for Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company to include its locations in Beijing, People’s Republic of China (PRC), Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, and New Delhi, India; for State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs Vnesheconombank to include its locations in Beijing, PRC and Mumbai, India; for Sberbank to include its locations in Beijing, PRC and New Delhi and Mumbai, India; for VTB to include its locations in New Delhi, India, and Beijing and Shanghai, PRC; and for VTB Capital Holdings Closed Joint Stock Company to include its location in Hong Kong, PRC.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties, and information on related OFAC actions, see the June 12, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2024-13 announcing version 2.0 of the "Retail Nondeposit Investment Products" booklet of the Comptroller's Handbook. This booklet discusses risks and risk management practices associated with the recommendation or sale of nondeposit investment products to retail customers. This booklet also provides examiners with a framework for evaluating a bank’s retail nondeposit investment product program.

The revised booklet replaces version 1.0 of the booklet with the same title issued January 2015. Also rescinded is OCC Bulletin 2015-2, “Retail Nondeposit Investment Products: Revised Comptroller's Handbook Booklet and Rescissions.”

The revised booklet—

• incorporates significant regulatory changes adopted in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest that may relate to banks' securities activities
• reflects OCC and interagency issuances that have been published or rescinded since January 2015
• provides further clarity regarding sound risk management practices and guidance to examiners
• includes other minor updates for general clarity

On June 11, the Treasury Department announced that OFAC has sanctioned members of one of Guyana’s wealthiest families, Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, and a Guyanese government official, Mae Thomas, for their roles in public corruption in Guyana. Additionally, OFAC designated two other entities, Hadi’s World and Team Mohamed’s Racing Team, for being owned or controlled by Mohamed’s Enterprise and Azruddin, respectively. These individuals and entities are sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.

For the identification information of the designated parties, see the June 11, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The Treasury Department yesterday reported that OFAC has sanctioned four individuals (including tanker captains), four entities, and two vessels in multiple jurisdictions that have engaged in the illicit transport of oil and other commodities, including for the network of Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. This action targets maritime shipping and financial facilitators, several vessel managers and owners, and a company involved in forging shipping documents. This seventh round of sanctions targeting the network of Sa’id al-Jamal since October 2023 underscores the U.S. government’s commitment to isolating and disrupting the financing of international terrorist groups such as the Houthis.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals, entities, and vessels, see the June 10, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

FinCEN has released its Year in Review for Fiscal Year 2023, which is intended to help stakeholders gain insight into the collection and use of Bank Secrecy Act data, including FinCEN’s efforts to support law enforcement and national security agencies. The Year in Review includes statistics from fiscal year 2023 on BSA reporting and how it is queried and used by law enforcement agencies. It also includes information on how FinCEN uses and analyzes BSA reporting to fulfill its mission, including to support alerts, trend analyses, and regulatory actions.

The Treasury Department has released a Request for Information on the Uses, Opportunities, and Risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Financial Services Sector.

Through this RFI, Treasury seeks to increase its understanding of how AI is being used within the financial services sector and the opportunities and risks presented by developments and applications of AI within the sector, including potential obstacles for facilitating responsible use of AI within financial institutions, the extent of impact on consumers, investors, financial institutions, businesses, regulators, end-users, and any other entity impacted by financial institutions’ use of AI, and recommendations for enhancements to legislative, regulatory, and supervisory frameworks applicable to AI in financial services. Treasury is particularly interested in understanding how AI innovations can help promote a financial system that delivers inclusive and equitable access to financial services.

UPDATE: Published at 89 FR 50048 in the June 12, 2024, Federal Register, with a comment period ending on August 12, 2024.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced that results from its annual bank stress tests will be released on Wednesday, June 26, at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Aggregate results from the Board's first exploratory analysis, which will not affect bank capital requirements, will also be released at that time.

This year, 32 banks with $100 billion or more in total assets are subject to the Board's stress tests. The scenario includes a severe global recession with heightened stress in commercial and residential real estate markets. Separately, the exploratory analysis includes four separate hypothetical elements, including two funding stresses applied to all banks tested and two market shocks applied to only the largest and most complex banks.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced that OFAC had sanctioned the Ecuador-based Los Lobos Drug Trafficking Organization and its leader Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre (also known as “Pipo”).

Also yesterday, the Department of State reported its imposition of sanctions on "Lion's Den," a military Palestinian group centered in Nablus's Old City in the West Bank.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties, see the June 6, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.