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The National Credit Union Administration has published [89 FR 45602] in this morning's Federal Register a notice of regulatory review and request for comments.

The NCUA Board is voluntarily reviewing agency regulations to identify rules that are outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome on federally insured credit unions. The NCUA is not statutorily required to undertake the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA) review; however, the Board has elected to participate in the decennial review process.

The NCUA divided its regulations into 10 categories. Over the next 2 years, the NCUA will publish four Federal Register documents each requesting comment on multiple categories of regulations. This first document requests comment by August 21, 2024, on regulations concerning the following two categories: “Applications and Reporting,” and “Powers and Activities.”

The FDIC yesterday published its 2024 Risk Review, which provides an overview of banking conditions in 2023 in five broad categories: market risks, credit risks, operational risks, crypto-asset risks, and climate-related financial risks. The market risks areas discussed are liquidity, deposits and funding, and net interest margins and interest rate risk. The credit risks areas discussed are commercial real estate, residential real estate, consumer, agriculture, small business, corporate debt and leveraged lending, nonbanks, and energy.

The discussion of operational risks examines the potential negative impact to banks from cyber threats and illicit activity. The crypto-asset risks section discusses the FDIC’s approach to understanding and evaluating crypto-asset-related markets and activities. The discussion of climate-related financial risks focuses on the physical risk of severe weather and climate events to the banking system.

Monitoring these risks is among the FDIC's top priorities.

FDIC FIL-25-2024, issued yesterday, provides guidance to help financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Massachusetts affected by severe storms and flooding September 11–13, 2023. The areas included in the declared disaster include Worcester and Bristol counties in Massachusetts.

On Monday, as part of the Treasury Department's Counter Fentanyl Strike Force, FinCEN, in partnership with the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), announced a new initiative to combat the illicit trafficking of fentanyl into the United States. The “Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl” (or PROTECT) series of FinCEN Exchange sessions will be held through the remainder of 2024 in U.S. cities that are highly impacted by the opioid epidemic.

The series is specifically designed to work with regional and local banks who are deeply connected to their communities and offer unique perspectives on the opioid crisis, and will focus on how law enforcement can best support their efforts to monitor activity that may be tied to the illicit trafficking of fentanyl. At these exchanges, federal officials brief on information critical to tracking these illicit financial flows, including typologies and red-flag indicators of fentanyl-related activity, and discuss what types of information are particularly valuable when financial institutions report suspicious activity.

The PROTECT series is being launched in collaboration with other government partners, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and local law enforcement agencies.

The Boston event in the PROTECT series was conducted on Monday, bringing federal agencies and law enforcement authorities from the Boston area together with representatives from the financial industry for a discussion on ways to deepen collaboration and enhance the value of suspicious activity reporting to counter illicit fentanyl trafficking. FinCEN and law enforcement representatives highlighted the significant value that Suspicious Activity Reports contribute to law enforcement efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking, and financial institutions shared their observations on money laundering flows and tactics used by narcotraffickers and their enablers.

The FDIC has issued FIL-24-2024 with guidance to help financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Iowa affected by severe storms and tornadoes from April 26–27, 2024.

The OCC has posted a list and schedule of workshops designed to meet the needs of new directors, experienced directors, and senior management of national community banks and federal savings associations wishing to review fundamentals or get critical updates. Two series of workshops have been scheduled throughout the year:

• Basic Series, which includes Building Blocks (1.5 days in person or 3 hour virtual workshop)
• Risk Management Series, which comprises:
  • Risk Governance (1 day in person or 3 hours virtually)
  • Credit Risk (1 day in person or 3 hours virtually)
  • Operational Risk (1 day in person or 3 hours virtually)
  • Compliance Risk (1 day in person or 3 hours virtually)
  • Capital Markets (1/2 day in person)

The schedule of the workshops and online registration are available on the OCC's website.

The Treasury Department has announced that OFAC has imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals and three Russia-based entities for facilitating weapons transfers between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to promote U.S. government objectives to disrupt and expose arms transfers between the DPRK and Russia and to build upon sanctions imposed by the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State related to DPRK-Russia arms transfers, including the transfer and testing of DPRK-origin ballistic missiles for Russia’s use against Ukraine.

For identification information on the designated individuals and entities, see BankersOnline’s May 16, 2024, OFAC Update.

The OCC has reported that Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu testified yesterday on the OCC's priorities before the House Committee on Financial Services.

In his testimony, Hsu discussed the OCC’s work to guard against complacency, adapt to digitalization, manage climate-related financial risk, and promote fairness in banking. He also provided an overview of the state of the federal banking system and recent key regulatory developments.

• Oral statement
• Written testimony

FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg testified yesterday before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In his remarks, Gruenberg said his top priority is addressing workplace culture issues at the FDIC, and listed several actions that are being taken to address recommendations in a third-party review of the agency's culture, the results of which were released last week.

Those remarks were followed by discussions of the state of the banking industry, condition of the Deposit Insurance Fund, bank receiverships, resolutions under Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act, efforts to strengthen the regulation and supervision of banks, and other regulatory initiatives.

Yesterday, the Department of the Treasury reported that OFAC targeted the Ortega-Murillo regime’s repression of the Nicaraguan people and its ability to manipulate the gold sector and profit from corrupt operations. OFAC imposed sanctions on three Nicaragua-based entities, the Training Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Managua (RTC); Compania Minera Internacional, Sociedad Anónima (COMINTSA); and Capital Mining Investment Nicaragua, Sociedad Anónima (Capital Mining), pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13851, as amended.

Treasury also reported that OFAC sanctioned Ali Yagoub Gibril and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14098, for leading the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) war campaign in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has caused civilian casualties, including children.

For identification information on the designated entities and individuals, see BankersOnline’s May 15, 2024, OFAC Update.