Top Stories

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that broker-dealers Webull Financial LLC, Lightspeed Financial Services Group LLC, and Paulson Investment Company, LLC have agreed to settle charges that they filed with law enforcement suspicious activity reports (SARs) that failed to include important, required information. The three broker-dealers agreed to pay $275,000 combined in civil penalties to settle the SEC’s charges.

The SEC’s orders find that the broker-dealers violated Section 17(a) of the Exchange Act and SEC Rule 17a-8. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firms agreed to be censured, cease and desist from violating the charged provisions, and pay civil penalties. Further, Webull Financial LLC and Paulson Investment Company, LLC agreed to undertake a review of their anti-money-laundering programs by compliance consultants. The resolutions reflect each of the firms’ cooperation after being contacted by Commission staff, as well as certain remedial measures taken by Lightspeed.

• Webull Financial LLC, of New York, NY, agreed to pay a $125,000 civil penalty.
• Lightspeed Financial Services Group LLC, of Morristown, NJ, agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty.
• Paulson Investment Company, LLC, of Lake Oswego, OR, agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty.

The Federal Reserve has announced information about the periodic review of its monetary policy strategy, tools, and communications—the framework it uses to pursue its congressionally-assigned goals of maximum employment and price stability.

The review is focused on two specific areas: the Federal Open Market Committee's Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy, which articulates the Committee's approach to monetary policy; and the Committee's policy communications tools. The Committee's two percent longer-run inflation goal will not be a focus of the review.

Like the review that concluded in 2020, the upcoming review will include outreach and public events with a wide range of parties. As part of the outreach effort, the Federal Reserve Board will host a research conference on May 15-16, 2025, with speakers and panelists from outside the Federal Reserve System.

The Federal Reserve will continue to host Fed Listens public events around the country, and discussions among Federal Reserve policymakers will begin with the January 28-29, 2025, FOMC meeting.

At the end of the process, policymakers will assess the information and perspectives gathered during the review and report their findings.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced pricing, effective January 1, 2025, for payment services the Federal Reserve Banks provide to banks and credit unions, such as the clearing of checks, automated clearing house (ACH) transactions, instant payments, and wholesale payment and settlement services.

By law, the Federal Reserve must establish fees to recover the costs, including imputed costs, of providing payment services over the long run. The Federal Reserve expects to recover 104.1 percent of actual and imputed expenses in 2025, including the return on equity that would have been earned if a private-sector firm provided the services. Overall, the Reserve Banks estimate that the price changes for 2025 will result in a 2.8 percent average price increase for established, mature services.

Along with the pricing information, the Board also released transaction volume and value data for FedNow, the Federal Reserve's 24x7x365 instant payments service. The data show that adoption continues to grow, with modest volumes that are in line with the introduction of a new payments service.

The entire 2025 fee schedule is included in the Federal Register notice and will also be published on FRBservices.org.

The Treasury Department yesterday reported that OFAC has taken another major step in implementing commitments made by G7 leaders to curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war against Ukraine. OFAC’s action includes the designation of Gazprombank, more than 50 internationally connected Russian banks, more than 40 Russian securities registrars, and 15 Russian finance officials. OFAC is also issuing an alert describing sanctions risks related to Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), which the Kremlin created and uses to evade sanctions.

For the names and identification information of all the designated parties, links to new and revised Russia-related General Licenses, FAQs and the Alert, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service has announced the selection of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (“BNY”), a global financial services company, as the financial agent for the Fiscal Service's Direct Express program.

In its press release, Fiscal Service said it selected BNY as the new financial agent for the program after conducting a competitive selection process and evaluating proposals from multiple financial institutions. Based on this review, Fiscal Service determined that BNY’s suite of features and customer service options will enable an evolution in the Direct Express program by providing enhanced efficiency and services tailored to the program’s customer base. With the new financial agent, customers will enjoy rent and other bill payment solutions, virtual cards, cardless ATM access, chat and text customer service, online dispute filing, in-person identity authentication options, and more.

The CFPB has issued a final rule making inflation adjustments to Regulation Z that impact HOEPA loans and Qualified Mortgages, where appropriate. For open-end consumer credit plans, the threshold that triggers requirements to disclose minimum interest charges will remain unchanged at $1.00 in 2025.

For HOEPA loans, the adjusted total loan amount threshold for high-cost mortgages in 2025 will be $26,968.

The adjusted points-and-fees dollar trigger for high-cost mortgages in 2025 will be $1,348.

For qualified mortgages (QMs) under the General QM loan definition in § 1026.43(e)(2), the thresholds for the spread between the annual percentage rate (APR) and the average prime offer rate (APOR) in 2025 will be: 2.25 or more percentage points for a first-lien covered transaction with a loan amount greater than or equal to $134,841; 3.5 or more percentage points for a first-lien covered transaction with a loan amount greater than or equal to $80,905 but less than $134,841; 6.5 or more percentage points for a first-lien covered transaction with a loan amount less than $80,905.

For all categories of QMs, the thresholds for total points and fees in 2025 will be 3 percent of the total loan amount for a loan greater than or equal to $134,841; $4,045 for a loan amount greater than or equal to $80,905 but less than $134,841; 5 percent of the total loan amount for a loan greater than or equal to $26,968 but less than $80,905; $1,348 for a loan amount greater than or equal to $16,855 but less than $26,968; and 8 percent of the total loan amount for a loan amount less than $16,855.

The CFPB also announced the maximum amount consumer reporting agencies may charge consumers for making a file disclosure to a consumer under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) will remain unchanged at $15.50, effective for 2025.

These amendments have been posted in the BankersOnline Regulations pages for sections 1026.32 and 1026.43 of Regulation Z and Appendix O to Regulation V.

The Federal Reserve Board has reported it has issued an Order of Prohibition barring Shan Hanes, former chief executive officer of Heartland Tri-State Bank, Elkhart, Kansas, for using his position to embezzle $47.1 million of bank funds in a cryptocurrency scheme that led to the bank becoming insolvent and failing in 2023.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released enforcement actions recently taken against financial institutions it supervises and individuals now or formerly associated with such financial institutions.

• A Cease and Desist Order against Clear Fork Bank, N.A., Albany, Texas, for violations of law and unsafe or unsound practices related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering. The bank had failed to correct previously reported BSA problems.
• A Formal Agreement with Hiawatha National Bank, Hager City, Wisconsin, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those relating to liquidity oversight, annual credit review processes, loan risk ratings, independent loan review, and allowance for credit losses.
• Cease and Desist Orders against The First National Bank of Shiner, Shiner, Texas; Bank of Brenham, N.A., Brenham, Texas; and The First National Bank of Bellville, Bellville, Texas, three subsidiary banks of Industry Bancshares, Inc., Industry, Texas, resolving the Notices of Charges filed on January 2, 2024, in which the OCC alleged, among other things, that each bank engaged in unsafe or unsound practices relating to an investment strategy concentrated in long-term securities that exposed each bank to excessive interest rate risk. The orders also address unsafe or unsound practices relating to corporate governance and, for Bank of Brenham, N.A., and The First National Bank of Bellville, credit administration practices. [Editor's Note: See also the Federal Reserve Board's Cease and Desist Order against Industry Bancshares, Inc. in "Federal Reserve enforcement actions against bank and holding company," in yesterday's Top Stories.]
• A Formal Agreement with The National Bank of Coxsackie, Coxsackie, New York, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to corporate and risk governance, strategic and capital planning, liquidity risk management, interest rate risk management, the audit function, and internal controls, and for violations, including those relating to loans to insiders.
• A Personal Cease and Desist Order against Dean A. Lafrentz, former senior vice president at Midstates Bank, N.A., Council Bluffs, Iowa, for falsifying collateral information in a borrower’s loan file, leading the bank to believe it had a surplus, rather than a deficit, of eligible collateral when considering the borrower's loan extension request.
• An Order of Prohibition against Clarice Saw, former financial advisor at a New York, New York, branch of Citibank N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for obtaining a power of attorney over an elderly bank customer under false pretenses, using the power of attorney to open new accounts, and misappropriating the customer’s funds.

The FDIC has made its November 2024 updates to its Risk Management Manual of Examination Policies (RMS Manual). The Manual provides FDIC examiners information relating to examination activities and supervisory practices. The FDIC conducts examinations at financial institutions to ensure public confidence in the banking system and to protect the Deposit Insurance Fund. The Manual promotes consistency in examination activities, which center on evaluating an institution’s capital, assets, management, earnings, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk, and adherence to laws and regulations.

This month's updates are found in Section 22.1 — Examination Documentation Modules. The FDIC has added 25 Reference ED Modules to this section.

The CFPB this morning announced it is has finalized a rule to supervise the largest nonbank companies offering digital funds transfer and payment wallet apps. The rule will help the CFPB to ensure that these companies – specifically those handling more than 50 million transactions per year – follow federal law just like large banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions already supervised by the CFPB. The CFPB estimates that the most widely used apps covered by the rule collectively process over 13 billion consumer payment transactions annually.

The final rule will enable to the CFPB to supervise companies in key areas including:

• Privacy and Surveillance: Large technology companies are collecting vast quantities of data about an individual’s transactions. Federal law allows consumers to opt-out of certain data collection and sharing practices, and also prohibits misrepresentations about data protection practices.
• Errors and Fraud: Under longstanding federal law, consumers have the right to dispute transactions that are incorrect or fraudulent, and financial institutions must take steps to look into them. The CFPB is particularly concerned about how digital payment apps can be used to defraud older adults and active duty servicemembers. Some popular payment apps appear to design their systems to shift disputes to banks, credit unions, and credit card companies, rather than managing them on their own.
• Debanking: Given the volume of payments consumers make through many popular payment apps, consumers can face serious harms when they lose access to their app without notice or when their ability to make or receive payments is disrupted. Consumers have reported concerns to the CFPB about disruptions to their lives due to closures or freezes.

While the CFPB has always had enforcement authority over these companies, today's rule gives the CFPB the authority to conduct proactive examinations to ensure companies are complying with the law in these and other areas.

In the final rule, the CFPB made several significant changes from its initial proposal. The transaction threshold determining which companies require supervision is now substantially higher, at 50 million annual transactions. Given the evolving market for digital currencies, the CFPB also limited the rule's scope to count only transactions conducted in U.S. dollars. The rule, which amends 12 C.F.R. part 1090, will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has issued cease and desist orders against:

• Small Business Bank, Lenexa, Kansas, for deficiencies in various areas, including the bank's operations and risk management practices, and compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and related rules and regulations
• Industry Bancshares, Inc., Industry, Texas (jointly issued with the Texas Department of Banking), which owns and controls Bank of Brenham, National Association, Brenham, Texas; The First National Bank of Shiner, Shiner, Texas; The First National Bank of Bellville, Bellville, Texas; Industry State Bank, Industry, Texas; Fayetteville Bank, Fayetteville, Texas; and Citizens State Bank, Buffalo, Texas, for deficiencies with respect to the operations of Bancshares, including with respect to its ability to serve as a source of strength to those banks

OFAC has issued a Penalty Notice imposing a $1,104,408 penalty on a natural U.S. person for 75 violations of OFAC sanctions on Iran valued at approximately $561,802.

Between 2019 and 2022, the individual executed a plan to purchase, renovate, and operate a hotel in Iran. In furtherance of this scheme, this individual used foreign money services businesses in Iran and Canada to evade U.S. sanctions, while aware at all times of U.S. sanctions on Iran. The penalty amount reflects OFAC’s determination that the violations were egregious and were not voluntarily self-disclosed.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC sanctioned a network of nine Mexican nationals involved in fentanyl, heroin, and other deadly drug trafficking and money laundering. Individuals designated in this network also engage in human smuggling in furtherance of their drug trafficking activities. Additionally, as members of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), some of the individuals sanctioned today played a prominent role in the early stages of the U.S. opioid crisis, a leading factor driving the United States’ modern fentanyl crisis. CJNG is a violent Mexico-based drug trafficking organization responsible for a significant proportion of fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States.

Treasury also reported that OFAC designated six senior Hamas officials, including the terrorist group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of the Hamas military wing, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, as well as individuals involved in supporting the terrorist group’s fundraising efforts and weapons smuggling into Gaza.

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

The Federal Reserve Board has published in the today's Federal Register amendments to Regulations A (Extensions of Credit by Federal Reserve Banks) and D (Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions) following its votes of last week to reduce interest rates by one-quarter of one percent (25 basis points). Each of these amendments is effective on publication, with applicability as of November 8, 2024.

The Board also published amendments to Regulation D this morning to reflect the annual indexing of the reserve requirement exemption amount and the low reserve tranche for 2025. The annual indexation of these amounts is required notwithstanding the Board’s action in March 2020 of setting all reserve requirement ratios to zero. The Board is amending Regulation D to set the reserve requirement exemption amount at $37.8 million (increased from $36.1 million in 2024) and the amount of the low reserve tranche at $645.8 million (increased from $644.0 million in 2024). These changes become effective on January 1, 2025.

Each of the amendments has been posted to the BankersOnline Regulations pages.

The FDIC has issued FIL-81-2024 and a press release to announce an extension of the comment period for the proposed rule on Custodial Deposit Accounts with Transactional Features and Prompt Payment of Deposit Insurance to Depositors from December 2, 2024, to January 16, 2025.

Publication update: Published at 89 FR 91586 on 11/20/2024.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, who is a member of the FDIC's Board of Directors, issued a statement yesterday asserting that "big businesses putting their money in big banks enjoy free deposit insurance, and small businesses putting their money in small banks don’t." Chopra said this is fundamentally unfair, and "gives an unfair competitive advantage to the largest banks in the country."

Copra said, "It is time for Congress to remove — or at least dramatically increase — limits on federal deposit insurance for payroll and other non-interest bearing operating accounts."

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced it will allow greater rental housing support from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) by raising the multifamily loan purchase cap for each Enterprise to $73 billion, representing $146 billion in total 2025 multifamily market support and a more than 4 percent increase from 2024.

The FHFA establishes the caps every year, and they are later included in Appendix A of the Enterprises’ Conservatorship Scorecard, a set of annual priorities that they are expected to meet. Just as in 2024, when the cap for each Enterprise was $70 billion, multifamily loans that finance workforce housing will be excluded from the 2025 limits.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC was sanctioning Amana the Settlement Movement of Gush Emunim Central Cooperative Association Ltd (Amana), a settlement development organization that is involved with U.S.-sanctioned individuals and outposts that perpetrate violence in the West Bank, and its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd. Concurrently, the Department of State was designating three individuals and one entity.

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

The CFPB on Friday released the annual report [summary | full report] of the CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman, highlighting the severe difficulties reported by student borrowers due to persistent loan servicing failures and program disruptions. The report details how millions of student borrowers have received relief through new income-driven repayment plans, cancellation programs, and various adjustments and program automation processes. However, borrowers tell the CFPB how servicing breakdowns, including inaccurate information provided by servicers, improperly processed payments, and delayed income driven payment applications have stymied their return to repayment.

The report focuses on the 2023-2024 Award Year (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024) and analyzes more than 18,000 student borrower complaints—the highest complaint volume the CFPB has received since it began collecting student borrower complaints in March 2012. Many of the servicer failures detailed in these complaints are persistent problems that have been well-documented by the CFPB, including errors with billing and auto pay, servicers providing incorrect information about accounts and repayment options, and months-long delays in the processing of income-driven repayment applications.

The Federal Reserve Board has released its November 2024 Supervision and Regulation Report, which summarizes banking conditions and the Federal Reserve's supervisory and regulatory activities in conjunction with semiannual testimony before Congress by the Vice Chair for Supervision.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced it has filed a complaint against Seek Capital and its founder and CEO, Roy Ferman, for operating a bogus business finance scheme that cost small business owners more than $37 million.

According to the complaint, the company has targeted new and aspiring small business owners looking for loans or lines of credit to open or grow their businesses. While the company’s advertising implies that business owners would have access to cash, instead Seek charges clients thousands of dollars simply to open credit cards in the owners’ names.

FinCEN has updated two FAQs related to access to Beneficial Ownership Information. The topics covered are in Section O (Access FAQs), and include FAQ O1 (Access to BOI for authorized recipients) and FAQ O2 (Access to BOI for Federal agencies).

FAQ O1 indicates that access is being offered in five phases. The first four phases will extend the opportunity to request access to Federal and State, local, and Tribal law enforcement partners. The fifth phase, expected to begin in the spring of 2025, will extend the opportunity to request access to financial institutions subject to due diligence requirements under applicable law and their supervisors.

The FDIC has issued FIL-80-2024, Guidance to Help Financial Institutions and Facilitate Recovery in Areas for Montana Affected by a Severe Storm and Straight-line Winds on August 6, 2024. The affected area in the Crow Indian Reservation.

The CFPB has published its Personal Financial Data Rights Rule at 89 FR 90838 in this morning's Federal Register.

Subject to the outcome of pending litigation against the rule, it will become final on January 17, 2025, with compliance dates for data providers beginning April 1, 2026; April 1, 2027; April 1, 2028; April 1, 2029; or April 1, 2030, based on the criteria set forth in § 1033.121(c).

OFAC has announced a $178,421 settlement with American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. ALICO agreed to settle its potential civil liability for 2,331 apparent violations of OFAC sanctions on Iran. The apparent violations related to insurance policies provided to entities in the United Arab Emirates that were owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. The settlement amount reflects OFAC's determination that the apparent violations were voluntarily self-disclosed and were not egregious.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced it has taken action against Global Tel Link Corporation (GTL) for illegally taking millions of dollars from more than a half million accounts and blocking money transfers to consumers who are incarcerated, which the consumers relied on for goods such as food, medicine, and clothing. The CFPB is ordering GTL and its subsidiaries to stop their illegal practices, pay at least $2 million in redress to victims, and pay a $1 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

GTL is a Virginia-based corporation doing business as ViaPath Technologies. Its wholly owned subsidiaries include limited liability companies Telmate, LLC, based in California, and TouchPay Holdings, LLC, based in Texas. The companies contract with correctional facilities across the United States to provide various products and services, including money transfer services, to incarcerated people and their family and friends. Friends and family use the services to deposit money into an incarcerated person’s account, and these funds may then be used to pay for items in the correctional facility’s commissary. GTL and Telmate also provide accounts to pay for telephone services, online messaging, and video visitation.

The CFPB found that Global Tel Link and its subsidiaries violated federal law by:

• Blocking consumer accounts and preventing money transfers
• Taking funds from inactive accounts unlawfully
• Hiding fees from consumers

FRBServices has announced the expansion of FedDetect Duplicate Notification for Check Services to include commercial checks, alongside its existing Treasury check notification service. Financial institutions can now see deposit information and images of potential duplicate items for commercial checks, supplementing their existing check fraud mitigation tools.

“Commercial checks remain a critically important form of payment, but they’re also vulnerable to fraud,” said Shonda Clay, FRFS executive vice president and chief of product and relationship management. “With the expansion of our FedDetect service, we are providing financial institutions of all sizes another powerful tool in their risk mitigation toolkit. Even better, we are now offering this service at no cost as part of our commitment to supporting depository institutions in the collective, industry-wide mission to combat fraud.”

The FedDetect service helps financial institutions mitigate loss of funds due to fraud or deposit capture errors by sending notices of potential duplicate Treasury or commercial checks across multiple payment channels and financial institutions.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC has sanctioned 26 companies, individuals, and vessels associated with the Al-Qatirji Company, a Syrian conglomerate responsible for generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the Houthis through the sale of Iranian oil to Syria and the People’s Republic of China.

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

The Financial Stability Board, an international organization that coordinates the work of national financial authorities and international standard-setting bodies and develops and promotes the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory, and other financial sector policies in the interest of financial stability, has issued a report, "The Financial Stability Implications of Artificial Intelligence," which outlines recent developments in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in finance and their potential implications for financial stability.

The FSB stated that widespread adoption and more diverse use cases of AI have prompted the FSB to revisit its 2017 report on AI and machine learning in financial services. Financial firms currently use AI mainly to enhance internal operations and improve regulatory compliance, but generative AI (GenAI) and large language models have given rise to new use cases, such as document summation, information retrieval, and code generation. While many financial institutions appear to be taking a cautious approach to using GenAI, interest remains high and the technology’s accessibility could facilitate more rapid integration in financial services.

The report notes that—

• The rapid adoption of AI offers several benefits but may also amplify certain financial sector vulnerabilities, such as third-party dependencies, market correlations, cyber risk and model risk, potentially increasing systemic risk.
• While existing financial policy frameworks address many of the vulnerabilities associated with use of AI by financial institutions, more work may be needed to ensure that these frameworks are sufficiently comprehensive.
• Financial authorities should enhance monitoring of AI developments, assess whether financial policy frameworks are adequate, and enhance their regulatory and supervisory capabilities including by using AI-powered tools.

The CFPB has released a study revealing significant disparities in how lenders treat Black and white small business owners seeking loans. The research found that Black entrepreneurs received less encouragement to apply for a loan and were more frequently steered toward alternative loan products compared to white shoppers with similar or weaker business credit profiles. The Bureau said that, while focused on specific testing sites, this research provides insights into potential lending disparities that warrant further exploration.

The CFPB conducted matched-pair testing using trained individuals who posed as small business owners seeking credit. Testers visited 25 unique bank branches in Fairfax County, Virginia and 25 branches in Nassau County, New York, resulting in a total of 100 in-person test visits. Each visit was audio recorded and participants completed a survey after the bank interaction that documented their experience. Black participants were assigned slightly more favorable financial profiles compared to their white counterparts. In many tests, the Black and white participant each met with the same bank representative.

The study revealed statistically significant disparities in two key areas:

• Black participants received less encouragement to apply for a loan.
• Lenders were more likely to suggest credit cards and home equity loans to Black business owners.

The CFPB noted it finalized its Small Business Lending Collection and Reporting ("Section 1071") Rule in March. The largest lenders will be required to collection and report data on their lending decisions beginning in July 2025, and the CFPB will review their lending data starting in July 2026.

• Matched-Pair Testing in Small Business Lending Markets

The Federal Reserve Board is inviting comment on a report, as required by law, that discusses the impact of a proposed international capital standard for large, internationally active insurance groups on U.S. consumers and markets. The joint report was completed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Federal Insurance Office.

Comments on the report are due by January 12, 2025.

• Federal Register notice: Study and Report to Congress on the Impact on Consumers and Markets in the United States of a Final International Insurance Capital Standard

FinCEN has issued FIN-2024-Alert004 to help financial institutions identify fraud schemes associated with the use of deepfake media created with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools. The alert explains typologies associated with these schemes, provides red flag indicators to assist with identifying and reporting related suspicious activity, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). This alert is also part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s broader effort to provide financial institutions with information on the opportunities and challenges that may arise from the use of AI.

The FDIC reports that nearly 96 percent of all U.S. households were banked in 2023, according to just-released national FDIC survey data. The 2023 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households found that 4.2 percent of U.S. households (representing 5.6 million households) lacked a bank or credit union account.

While the nation’s overall unbanked rate remains at its lowest level since the FDIC survey began in 2009, lower-income, less-educated, Black, Hispanic, disabled, and single-parent households continue to be significantly more likely to be unbanked. In addition, the FDIC survey found 66.2 percent of unbanked households relied entirely on cash while 33.8 percent of unbanked households relied upon a combination of prepaid cards or nonbank online payment services such as PayPal, Venmo or Cash App to conduct transactions.

The Federal Reserve Board reports it has prohibited Anthony R. Gressak III from future participation in the banking industry and fined him $75,000.

Gressak is a former director and former interim chief executive officer of Nano Financial Holdings, Inc. and Nano Banc. In his former role, Gressak violated a prior written agreement between the firm and the Federal Reserve. Gressak also fraudulently obtained loans and grants administered under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and violated other laws and banking regulations.

The Board also announced that it had prohibited James T. Chung, also a former director of Nano Financial Holdings, Inc. and Nano Banc, from future participation in the banking industry for fraudulently obtaining loans and grants administered under the CARES Act.

The FDIC's Board of Directors met in a closed session yesterday and approved a memorandum and resolution on investigations by the FDIC's Office of Professional Conduct. No link to that document was provided, although statements by FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill and Director Jonathan McKernan expressed dissatisfaction with "five months of debate, delays and false starts" over how to investigate allegations of misconduct by FDIC executives.

The FDIC's newly established Office of Professional Conduct will retain and oversee law firms that will investigate such allegations. Director McKernan's statement indicates he hopes completed investigations can be expected in the spring of 2025, with disciplinary decisions not long after that.

The CFPB has released a report, "State Consumer Privacy Laws and the Monetization of Consumer Financial Data," summarizing state laws that give consumers more control over their data, how these rights complement the protections under federal law, and the gaps in protection that result from state law exemptions for financial institutions subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The CFPB suggests that state policymakers should assess gaps in their state data privacy laws, and consider the importance of ensuring that their citizens are protected in instances where federal law currently has gaps or may be ineffective.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced a proposed settlement with H&R Block Inc. and affiliates that will require the company to make a number of changes for the 2025 tax filing season in addition to longer-term changes. The settlement would also require the company to pay $7 million to the FTC to be used to redress consumers harmed by the company’s unlawful practices.

The proposed settlement would stop H&R Block from unfairly requiring consumers seeking to downgrade to a cheaper H&R Block product to contact customer service, from unfairly deleting users' previously entered data and from making deceptive claims about “free” tax filing.

• FTC's record of filings in this matter

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.

Today, FinCEN published [89 FR 89700] a 61-day notice in the Federal Register concerning the form that select real estate professionals will use to report information about certain residential real estate transfers under the Residential Real Estate Rule. This notice gives the public an opportunity to comment on the reporting form, and on FinCEN’s estimate of the burden involved in the reporting process. Comments will be accepted through January 13, 2025.

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 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.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday reported that it had charged Invesco Advisers, Inc. for making misleading statements about the percentage of company-wide assets under management that integrated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions. The Atlanta-based registered investment adviser agreed to pay a $17.5 million civil penalty to settle the SEC’s charges.

According to the SEC’s order, from 2020 to 2022, Invesco told clients and stated in marketing materials that between 70 and 94 percent of its parent company’s assets under management were “ESG integrated.” However, in reality, these percentages included a substantial amount of assets that were held in passive ETFs that did not consider ESG factors in investment decisions. Furthermore, the SEC’s order found that Invesco lacked any written policy defining ESG integration.

Without admitting or denying the order’s findings, Invesco also agreed to cease and desist from violations of the charged provisions and be censured.

The Federal Reserve Board has published [89 FR 88877] a final rule that applies an inflation adjustment to the threshold for total consolidated assets in Regulation I (12 C.F.R. Part 209). Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) stockholders that have total consolidated assets above the threshold receive a different dividend rate on their Reserve Bank stock than stockholders with total consolidated assets at or below the threshold (which is being increased to $12,841,000,000).

The amendments, which are effective today but will apply beginning on January 1, 2025, have been noted in affected sections of Regulation I in the BankersOnline Regulations webpages.

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.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the Statement of the Federal Open Market Committee following its meeting on November 6 and 7. The committee said that recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. Since earlier in the year, labor market conditions have generally eased, and the unemployment rate has moved up but remains low. Inflation has made progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective but remains somewhat elevated.

The Committee "decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 4-1/2 to 4-3/4 percent. In considering additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities. The Committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective."

The implementation note released with the Minutes indicates that the Board of Governors voted unanimously to lower the interest rate paid on reserve balances to 4.65 percent, effective November 8, 2024, and to approve a 1/4 percentage point decrease in the primary credit rate to 4.75 percent, effective November 8, 2024.

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.

Our monthly review of the Federal Reserve Board's archive of Community Reinvestment Act evaluations found that the Reserve Banks released ten evaluations of state-chartered member banks in the month of October, all with Satisfactory ratings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced two partnerships involving Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) to boost awareness and liquidity for programs that expand housing access for tribal communities.

In one partnership, the FHLBank of Des Moines will promote a Freddie Mac mortgage product intended to improve credit access for federally recognized Native American tribes. In the other, Fannie Mae will purchase loans originated through the FHLBank Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) program — administered by the FHLBank of Chicago — to increase mortgage liquidity for tribal communities.

• Fannie Mae and FHLBank of Chicago press release
• Freddie Mac and FHLBank of Des Moines press release

The FTC has reported it has charged Sitejabber, a company offering an AI-enabled consumer review platform, deceived consumers by misrepresenting that ratings and reviews it published came from customers who experienced the reviewed product or service, artificially inflating average ratings and review counts.

Under a proposed order settling the agency’s complaint, Sitejabber will be prohibited from making such misrepresentations in the future and from making other misrepresentations about consumer ratings or reviews.

According to the FTC’s complaint, GGL Projects, Inc., which does business as Sitejabber, collected ratings and reviews for its online business clients from consumers at the time of purchase, before they received or had the chance to experience the products or services they bought. For example, after online customers checked out, they were asked to “rate your overall shopping experience so far” on a 5-star scale and then to “type a quick message about your shopping experience so far.” Sitejabber allegedly used these point-of-sale ratings and reviews to deceptively inflate the average ratings and review counts of its clients on the company’s review platform, claiming that the ratings “indicat[e] that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases.”

The OCC has announced its designation of Dewayne Lott, Ron Pasch, and Tanya Smith as Senior National Bank Examiners.

The Senior National Bank Examiner designation recognizes examiners who have distinguished themselves through high-quality performance and service as field examiners, subject matter experts, and advisors on highly complex and technical bank supervision issues. This is the highest honor bestowed on national bank examiners.