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The Treasury Department yesterday announced that OFAC has sanctioned Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah for his leadership role in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a primary party responsible for the ongoing violence against civilians in Sudan since April 2023.

For identification information on Barakallah and a notice on amendments to OFAC's Sudan Sanctions Regulations, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The NCUA on Friday reported that Florida's Office of Financial Regulation placed Alliance Credit Union of Florida into conservatorship, and appointed the NCUA as conservator.

According to the Credit Union Times, at the end of 2023, the credit union reported a loss of $184,231, and losses continued to pile up in each quarter of 2024.

FinCEN has reported its September 2024 outreach efforts on its Beneficial Ownership Reporting Rule requirements.

The report also included a list of upcoming events at which FinCEN representatives are scheduled to further disseminate BOI reporting information through the end of the year.

OFAC is asking for user opinions of their website. They are asking site users to take about ten minutes to complete a survey to help them improve their services, enhance users' experience, and create new features.

The survey can be found HERE.

The CFPB has announced a consent order filed in an Administrative Proceeding against Navy Federal Credit Union for charging "illegal overdraft fees." The Bureau said that, from 2017 to 2022, Navy Federal charged customers surprise overdraft fees on certain ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases, even when their accounts showed sufficient funds at the time of the transactions. The CFPB is ordering Navy Federal to refund more than $80 million to consumers, stop charging illegal overdraft fees, and pay a $15 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

The CFPB said Navy Federal illegally charged it members' accounts in two ways.

1. Charging OD fees on "approved positive, settled negative" or APSN debit card transactions, collecting an average of $44 million a year, in spite of warnings about such fees by federal regulators, including the CFPB and the Federal Reserve Board, as early as 2015.
2. Charging member accounts that received money via Zelle, PayPal, and similar peer-to-peer payment services when Navy Federal's systems showed those funds as immediately available, but the credit union failed to disclose that payments received after 10:00 a.m. Eastern (later 8:00 p.m.) would not actually post to the accounts until the next business day. Some members tried using those funds and were charged OD fees.

In addition to the order's requirement to pay the $15 million civil money penalty and $80 million in refunds to Navy Federal members, there is a provision in the order banning Navy Federal from charging OD fees for APSN transactions or resulting from delayed posting of funds received from peer-to-peer payment networks.

• NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper's Statement on the CFPB's settlement with Navy Federal Credit Union.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC has designated one individual and one entity who support a corrupt patronage network in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that is attempting to evade U.S. sanctions.

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

The FDIC has announced it will introduce a new online tool to help financial institutions, investors, and other interested groups to identify neighborhoods that could benefit from banking services. The FDIC’s new Minority Banking Opportunity Explorer will be presented at a meeting of the agency’s Minority Depository Institutions (MDI) Subcommittee to the Advisory Committee on Community Banking today.

This new tool supports FDIC’s statutory mission to promote and encourage the creation of new minority depository institutions by assisting financial institution organizing groups with exploring potential business opportunities in areas that may meet the "community served" part of an MDI designation. The tool can also support existing MDIs’ growth by identifying new branch locations or advertising opportunities.

The FDIC has issued Financial Institution Letters with guidance to help financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas affected by severe weather.

• FIL-78-2024 for financial institutions in areas of South Dakota affected by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe severe storm, straight-line winds, and flooding on July 13 and 14, 2024
• FIL-79-2024 for financial institutions in areas of New Mexico affected by a severe storm and flooding on October 19 and 20, 2024

FinCEN recently announced that certain victims of Hurricane Milton, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Beryl, and Hurricane Francine will receive an additional six months to submit beneficial ownership information reports, including updates and corrections to prior reports.

FinCEN has issued the five Notices below extending the filing deadlines for reporting companies that 1) have an original reporting deadline beginning one day before the date the specified disaster began and ending 90 days after that date, and 2) are located in an area that is designated both by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as qualifying for individual or public assistance and by the Internal Revenue Service as eligible for tax filing relief.

Notice regarding—

• Hurricane Milton
• Hurricane Helene
• Hurricane Debby
• Hurricane Beryl
• Hurricane Francine

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday announced that the amount individuals can contribute to their 401(k) plans in 2025 has increased to $23,500, up from $23,000 for 2024. The IRS also issued technical guidance regarding all cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2025 in Notice 2024-80.

The limit on annual contributions to an IRA remains $7,000. The IRA catch‑up contribution limit for individuals aged 50 and over was amended under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) to include an annual cost‑of‑living adjustment but remains $1,000 for 2025.