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The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced that OFAC has sanctioned three individuals, five companies, and two vessels that are involved in smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to generate revenue for Hizballah.

For identification information on the individuals, entities, and vessels designated by OFAC, and other OFAC actions yesterday, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The FDIC has announced it Board of Directors will meet at 10:00 a.m. EDT September 17, 2024. The meeting will be open to the public for observation only by webcast.

On the agenda are—

• A notice of proposed rulemaking on custodial deposit accounts with transaction features and prompt payment of deposit insurance to depositors
• A final statement of policy on bank merger transactions

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr spoke on The Next Steps on Capital at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Governor Barr agreed that it is critical that banks have the capacity to continue lending to households and businesses through times of stress, and that bank capital rules help to ensure that banks are holding capital commensurate with the risks of their activities and the risks they pose to the U.S. financial system.

However, said Governor Barr, two current proposed rules that would modify risk-based capital requirements for big banks need broad and material changes to better balance the benefits and costs to increasing capital requirements. To that end, Governor Barr intends to recommend that the Board of Governors re-propose the Basel endgame and global systematically important banks surcharge rules to give the public the opportunity to fully review a number of changes to the original proposals and provide comments.

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.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has executed a written agreement among Fieldpoint Private Holdings, Inc., Fieldpoint Private Bank and Trust, both of Greenwich, Connecticut, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the State of Connecticut Department of Banking, to address certain deficiencies at the holding company and the bank.

Topics listed in the agreement include Liquidity and Funds Management, Strategic Plan and Budget, Capital Plan, and Capital Conservation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday announced it had ordered TD Bank, N.A. to pay $7.76 million in consumer redress to thousands of victims for its illegal actions regarding credit reporting. The Bureau said the bank for years repeatedly shared inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies. The information included systemic errors about credit card delinquencies and bankruptcies. In addition to the redress, the CFPB is ordering TD Bank to pay a $20 million civil money penalty.

Specifically, the CFPB said TD Bank harmed consumers by—

• Failing to fix its credit card reporting errors
• Sharing fraudulent information with consumer reporting companies after the bank identified hundreds of thousands of deposit account openings that were either confirmed or suspected to be fraudulent
• Failing to investigate and resolve consumer disputes

For additional information and the details of the Bureau's consent order, click HERE.

The Treasury Department yesterday announced that OFAC has sanctioned nine Mexican nationals and 26 Mexico-based entities linked to a fuel theft network that generates tens of millions of dollars benefiting the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a violent Mexico-based drug trafficking organization responsible for a significant proportion of fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States. Mexico-based drug trafficking cartels such as CJNG have turned to fuel theft in recent years, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue to the Mexican government. Today’s action was coordinated closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Government of Mexico, including La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF), Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit.

OFAC also designated ten individuals and six entities based in Iran and Russia and identified four vessels as blocked property that are enabling Iran’s delivery of weapons components and weapons systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs), to Russia.

For identification information on the individuals, entities, and vessels designated or identified yesterday, see BankersOnline’s September 10, 2024, OFAC Update.

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.

The Federal Communications Commission has published [89 FR 73321] a proposed rule with steps to protect consumers from the abuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in robocalls alongside actions that clear the path for positive uses of AI, including its use to improve access to the telephone network for people with disabilities.

Specifically, the proposal would define AI-generated calls, adopt new rules that would require callers disclose to consumers when they receive an AI-generated call, adopt protections for consumers to ensure that callers adequately apprise them of their use of AI-generated calls when consumers affirmatively consent to receive such calls, and adopt protections to ensure that positive uses of AI that have already helped people with disabilities use the telephone network can thrive without threat of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) liability. The document also seeks additional comment and information on developing technologies that can alert consumers to unwanted or illegal calls and texts, including AI-generated calls.

Comments on the proposal are due by October 10, 2024, and reply comments are due by October 25, 2024.

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.

Today is the closing day for comments on the CFPB's proposed amendments to Regulation X to streamline existing requirements when mortgage borrowers seek payment assistance in times of distress, add safeguards when borrowers seek help, and revise existing requirements with respect to borrower assistance. The proposed rule would also require loan servicers to provide certain communications in languages other than English, such as when a borrower is seeking payment assistance with their mortgage. The proposed rule, if finalized, would increase the likelihood that investors and borrowers can avert the costs of avoidable foreclosure.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday released an online risk analysis tool that provides geographic estimates for physical risks from various types of natural disasters as well as nationwide data on housing and the mortgage market.

The tool — known as the Mortgage Loan and Natural Disaster Dashboard— is intended to give property owners, community leaders, financial institutions, policymakers, and other stakeholders better insight into which areas of the country are most likely to incur greater damages from hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other types of natural hazards. Users can combine FHFA’s Public Use Database (PUDB) with data on previous disasters and other analysis from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They can identify areas of the country with elevated disaster risk based on several factors, and which of those areas have concentrations of properties financed with loans acquired by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

The dashboard utilizes data from three publicly available sources. The PUDB provides a geographic breakdown of loans acquired by FHFA’s regulated entities. FEMA’s National Risk Index identifies communities most at risk for 18 types of natural hazards. The third source, FHFA’s Duty to Serve High-Needs Rural Areas data, pinpoints rural areas in the country that are characterized by a high concentration of poverty and substandard housing conditions.

The data on mortgages were updated as of 2022 and the data on past natural disasters reflected in the online tool were updated as of 2023, while the Census tracts were drawn from the 2020 U.S. Census. Dashboard users can view nationwide mortgage data at the Census-tract level overlaid with expected annual damages for 18 different types of natural disasters.

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 CFPB has released its annual report to Congress summarizing the Bureau's activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 2023 as the primary federal regulator of the consumer debt collection industry. The report also includes activities related to the debt collection industry that were conducted by the Federal Trade Commission in 2023 and highlights consumer protection issues in medical and rental debt collection.

Yesterday, the FDIC announced that its Board selected Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Federal Corporation to advise and assist the agency as it implements its Action Plan for a Safe, Fair, and Inclusive Work Environment, which includes recommendations from a separate independent third-party review and the FDIC Office of the Inspector General. These initiatives are intended to improve FDIC workplace culture, policies, procedures and structures affecting interpersonal misconduct. BCG Federal will report directly to the Board.

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 Federal Reserve Board's archive of CRA evaluation reports include ten that were made public in August 2024. Eight of the ten evaluated banks received Satisfactory ratings. One, in Greenwich, Connecticut, received a Needs to Improve. And one bank, Central Savings Bank, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, received an Outstanding rating on its evaluation.

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 FDIC has released its September 2024 list of FDIC-supervised financial institutions whose CRA evaluations were recently made public. Of the 54 institutions listed, two banks — one based in Utah, the other in Pennsylvania — received "Needs to Improve" ratings. Satisfactory ratings were issued to the other 52 institutions.

The Federal Trade Commission reports that new data show a massive increase in the amount of money consumers report losing to scammers involving Bitcoin ATM machines. Since 2020, the amount consumers reported losing has increased nearly tenfold to over $110 million in 2023.

In a newly released data spotlight, the FTC says that fraud losses to Bitcoin ATMs have topped $65 million in just the first six months of 2024. During this timeframe, consumers over the age of 60 were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losing money to Bitcoin ATM scams. Across all ages, the median loss reported in the first half of this year was a staggering $10,000.

The majority of scam losses involving Bitcoin ATMs come as a result of government impersonation, business impersonation, and tech support scams. The lies told by scammers vary, but they all create some urgent justification for consumers to take cash out of their bank accounts and put it into a Bitcoin ATM. As soon as consumers scan a QR code provided by scammers at the machine, their cash is deposited straight into the scammers’ crypto account.

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 OCC has released CRA evaluations for 17 national banks and federal savings associations whose evaluations became public in August. Ten of the evaluations are rated Satisfactory. We congratulate seven institutions for receiving evaluations with an Outstanding rating:

• Bank of Bridger, National Association, Bridger, MT
• (The) Citizens National Bank of Meridian, Meridian, MS
• Farmers National Bank, Phillipsburg, KS
• Home National Bank, Racine, OH
• Malaga Bank, F.S.B., Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
• (The) Security National Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, Sioux City, IA
• Universal Bank, West Covina, CA

The OCC has released its schedule of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) evaluations to be conducted in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

The FDIC has also issued its Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 CRA exam schedules.

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 CFPB has announced it has taken action against repeat offender New Day Financial (NewDay USA) for deceiving active duty servicemembers and veterans seeking cash-out refinance loans. The CFPB found that NewDay USA gave misleading and incomplete cost comparisons to borrowers refinancing in North Carolina, Maine, and Minnesota, which made the company’s loans appear less expensive relative to their existing mortgages. The CFPB is ordering NewDay USA to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

New Day Financial, LLC is a non-bank direct mortgage lender headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, and specializes in offering mortgage loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The company currently operates under the brand NewDay USA, and uses patriotic imagery and other marketing tactics to build trust with military-connected families. Since at least 2015, NewDay USA has provided cash-out refinance loans to consumers, including veterans and active-duty servicemembers.

The CFPB said that NewDay USA gave borrowers misleading information about the costs of its cash-out refinances. Specifically, for the “new loan” payment amount listed on disclosures provided to consumers, NewDay USA included only the principal and interest payments. It then presented a side-by-side comparison of the “new loan” payment amount with that of the “previous loan” payment amount, which included principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. This made NewDay USA cash-out refinance loans appear less expensive relative to consumers’ original mortgages, but for many consumers the refinanced loans were more expensive. NewDay USA originated at least 3,000 cash-out refinances in North Carolina and Maine through 2020 and Minnesota through 2018, most of which included the misleading comparisons.

The CFPB previously took action against New Day Financial in 2015 for paying illegal kickbacks and deceiving borrowers about a veterans’ organization’s endorsement of NewDay USA products.

In an August 29 company statement, NewDay USA CEO Rob Posner said, “Today, after yet another exhaustive, government-funded investigation, the CFPB has unearthed nothing more than clerical errors that caused no financial harm to Veteran borrowers.... NewDay operates in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The CFPB claims involved only three of those states, and focused on a single type of disclosure that was accurately provided to these consumers on a half-dozen other federally mandated disclosures and closing documents.”

Editor's Note: This story first appeared on August 30, 2024. It has been revised to remove a reference to "loan churning," which the CFPB did not accuse NewDay USA of, and to include part of Mr. Posner's statement.

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

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued a new booklet to help examiners assess information technology practices.

The “Development, Acquisition, and Maintenance” booklet provides examiners with fundamental examination expectations regarding entities’ development and acquisition planning and execution, governance and risk management, and maintenance and change management practices. It discusses the interconnectedness of an entity’s assets and processes and those of its third-party service providers along with information to help examiners assess whether management adequately addresses risks and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

The booklet reflects the changing technological environment and increasing need for security and resilience. It also highlights the importance of providing examiners with current information regarding safety and soundness, consumer protection, and provision of secure and resilient business services to customers. This new booklet replaces the “Development and Acquisition” booklet issued in April 2004.

The FFIEC has announced that, on behalf of its members, the FFIEC will sunset the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool on August 31, 2025. The FFIEC announcement includes links to other resources that can assist financial institutions in their self-assessment activities.

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced final individual capital requirements for all large banks, effective on October 1.

Large bank capital requirements are informed by the Board's stress test results, which provide a risk-sensitive and forward-looking assessment of capital needs. The table in the Large Bank Capital Requirements document shows each bank's common equity tier 1 capital requirement, which is made up of several components, including:

• The minimum capital requirement, which is the same for each bank and is 4.5 percent;
• The stress capital buffer requirement, which is based in part on the stress test results and is at least 2.5 percent; and
• If applicable, a capital surcharge for the largest and most complex banks, which is updated in the first quarter of each year to account for the overall systemic risk of each of these banks.

If a bank's capital dips below its total requirement, the bank is subject to automatic restrictions on both capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments.

The Board also announced that it had modified the stress capital buffer requirement for Goldman Sachs, after the firm's request for reconsideration.

The Federal Trade Commission yesterday announced an update to the fees telemarketers must pay to access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, which starts on October 1, 2024.

The cost of accessing a single area code in the Registry will be $80 in FY 2025, which is an increase of $2 from FY 2024. The maximum charge to any single entity for accessing all area codes nationwide is now $22,038 (up from 21,402 in FY 2024). The fee for accessing an additional area code for a half year will increase $1 from FY 2024, to $40.

Yesterday, FinCEN announced two final rules designed to help safeguard the residential real estate and investment adviser sectors from illicit finance.

The final residential real estate rule, published [89 FR 70258] in today’s Federal Register and effective December 1, 2025, will require certain industry professionals to report information to FinCEN about non-financed transfers of residential real estate to a legal entity or trust, which present a high illicit finance risk. The rule will increase transparency, limit the ability of illicit actors to anonymously launder illicit proceeds through the American housing market, and bolster law enforcement investigative efforts.

• Residential Real Estate Rule Fact Sheet
• FAQs on Real Estate Reports

The final investment adviser rule, scheduled for Federal Register publication on September 4, and effective January 1, 2026, will apply anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements—including AML/CFT compliance programs and suspicious activity reporting obligations—to certain investment advisers that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as those that report to the SEC as exempt reporting advisers. The rule will help address the uneven application of AML/CFT requirements across this industry.

• Investment Advisor Rule Fact Sheet

The CFPB yesterday posted a Bureau Blog article, "What we're learning: Medical debt's impact on Alaska Native communities."

The CFPB has announced its publication of a new “issue spotlight” report on Cash-Back Fees.

The CFPB sampled eight large retail companies (Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Kroger, Albertsons, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Target) and assessed their practices for charging cash-back fees. Three companies in the sample — Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, and Kroger — charge fees for cash-back service. At Dollar General and Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, cash-back fees for small withdrawal amounts are the highest in the sample ($1 fee or more for cash-back amounts under $50). Kroger, the country’s largest grocery chain, recently announced new charges at their Harris Teeter stores (75 cents for $100 cash back or less), and charges 50 cents for up to $100 cash back at their other brand stores such as Ralph’s, Fred Meyer, and others.

The CFPB's release says “Americans are paying tens of millions of dollars in fees to access their own money when getting ‘cash back’ at large retail stores when making a purchase with a debit or prepaid card, and that these cash-back fees are occurring against the backdrop of bank mergers, branch closures, and prevalence of out-of-network ATM fees that have reduced the supply of free cash access points for consumers.”

• CFPB Director’s Notebook statement

[Editor’s Note: The ABA noted this morning that public data indicate that nearly 96 percent of Americans live within a few miles of a bank or credit union branch.]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has reported that U.S. house prices rose 5.7 percent between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, according to the second quarter FHFA House Price Index. House prices were up 0.9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for June was down 0.1 percent from May.

“U.S. house prices saw the third consecutive slowdown in quarterly growth,” said Dr. Anju Vajja, Deputy Director for FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics. “The slower pace of appreciation as of June end was likely due to higher inventory of homes for sale and elevated mortgage rates.”

The OCC has announced community bank director and senior management workshops scheduled in nine cities across the country in September and October. The list includes the OCC's basic Building Blocks workshop and its Risk Management Series, which includes workshops on Risk Governance, Credit Risk, Operational Risk, Compliance Risk, and Capital Markets.

Most of the sessions are available for both in-person or virtual attendance.

The Treasury Department and the IRS have announced that Maine will be the 20th state to join IRS Direct File for the 2025 filing season.

Following this year's Pilot Program in 12 states that saw 140,000 taxpayers claim more than $90 million in refunds and save an estimated $5.6 million in filing costs using the new free online filing tool, Treasury and the IRS announced the expansion of Direct File as a permanent offering. Treasury and the IRS have been working with interested states to offer Direct File to their taxpayers with Maine becoming the latest state to join, following Oregon, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. More than 120,000 Mainers will be eligible to use the free online filing tool next Filing Season.

The CFPB has released a Filing Instruction Guide (FIG) for covered nonbanks subject to the CFPB's Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders Final Rule (also referred to as the NBR Orders Rule) (12 CFR Part 1092, effective September 16, 2024), which establishes a nonbank registry of certain nonbanks with public agency and court orders. The CFPB also issued a sample registration form and instructions for viewing Regulatory Actions in NMLS.

The FIG, sample registration form, and other Nonbank Registration resources can be found on the Bureau's Nonbank Registry portal and public database webpage.

Yesterday, FinCEN issued a press release reminding financial institutions to monitor for and report suspicious transactional activity related to the illicit fentanyl supply chain and the trafficking of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

FinCEN has previously published resources on the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other synthetic opioids and the precursor chemicals and associated manufacturing equipment needed to synthesize these deadly drugs:

• Supplemental Advisory on the Procurement of Precursor Chemicals and Manufacturing Equipment Used for the Synthesis of Illicit Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids (June 2024)
• Advisory to Financial Institutions on Illicit Financial Schemes and Methods Related to the Trafficking of Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids (August 2019)

The FDIC has issued FIL-59-2024 with guidance intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Vermont affected by the severe storm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides from July 9 – 11, 2024. The initial designated areas include Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, and Washington Counties. FEMA may change the list of affected counties after damage assessments are completed.

The CFPB has made available its beta platform for the small business lending data collection rule under section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act and invites the participation of financial institutions and their technology partners to test the beta platform and share feedback with the CFPB on their experience. Participants will be provided the opportunity to create a Login.gov account, upload sample data test files, review validation results, and explore the beta platform's features. Feedback on the experience will help the Bureau identify areas for potential enhancement and improve the data filing process. Teams can work in an early test environment at their own pace and convenience.

The beta program is for testing purposes only. Data submitted on the beta platform will not be considered for compliance with small business lending data reporting requirements. Test files to be used can be found in the Bureau's test file repository. Participants are welcome to test using other sample files; however, it is important that they do not use actual customer data.

• Beta program access
• Getting started with the beta platform

On Friday, the Department of the Treasury announced that OFAC and the State Department targeted nearly 400 individuals and entities both in Russia and outside its borders—including in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East—whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions. The United States government will continue to support Ukraine as it defends its independence and hold Russia accountable for its aggression.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties and vessels, see this August 23, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Care.com, Inc., has agreed to a settlement of FTC claims that the child and older adult care gig platform has systematically deceived caregivers who were looking for jobs while failing to give families seeking care a simple way to cancel their paid memberships.

In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Care.com's marketing messages about both the number of jobs available on their site and the amount workers could expect to be paid were deceptive. The complaint also alleges that Care has used a number of unlawful tactics, sometimes referred to as dark patterns, to prevent consumers – both job posters and job seekers – from being able to cancel their subscriptions. When consumers try to cancel Care subscriptions, they must click through a number of unrelated links to find information about how to cancel. According to the lawsuit, consumers regularly complained about difficulties in finding the cancellation options, with many resorting to searching online for instructions on how to cancel.

Under the proposed settlement, Care.com must turn over $8.5 million to be used to refund consumers harmed by their practices, as well as requiring the company to be able to back up the earnings claims it makes and be honest about the number of jobs available on their site. They must also provide users with a simple cancellation method for any negative option subscriptions available on their website.

The OCC yesterday released enforcement actions recently taken against national banks and federal savings associations (banks), and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with banks the OCC supervises.

Formal Agreements with:

• 1st National Bank, Lebanon, Ohio, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning, capital planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management
• Generations Bank, Seneca Falls, New York, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to board oversight, strategic planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management.
• Maple City Savings Bank, FSB, Hornell, New York, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to board oversight and corporate governance, strategic and capital planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management, and a violation relating to transactions with affiliates
• Slovenian S&LA of Franklin-Conemaugh, Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning, succession planning, balance sheet management, internal audit, and the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) internal controls, audit, and training, and violations of 12 CFR 21.21 (BSA/AML compliance program) and 31 CFR 1020.210 (Customer Due Diligence)

Orders of Prohibition against:

• James Gomes, former branch manager at a New York, New York, branch of TD Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for accessing an elderly bank customer’s accounts without authorization and transferring over $200,000 from the customer’s accounts to his own accounts
• Priscilla Jones-Cotton, former branch manager at a Fort Myers, Florida, branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for stealing, embezzling, or otherwise misappropriating approximately $32,000 from the bank
• Deidre Katschke, former universal vault specialist at BOKF, N.A., Tulsa, Oklahoma, for misappropriating approximately $42,500 in cash from the bank
• Maria Salazar, former teller at a Louisville, Kentucky, branch of PNC Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for conducting unauthorized debit card transactions using bank customer accounts that totaled approximately $10,200

Notices of Charges for an Order of Prohibition against:

• Roberto A. Garcia, former personal banker at a North Miami, Florida, branch of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Columbus, Ohio. The Notice of Charges alleges, among other things, that Garcia stole over $12,000 in cash from the bank, engaged in account takeovers of bank customer accounts, and used customer accounts to pay personal expenses.
• Lexus Inez Lewis, former fraud operations specialist, at a Jacksonville, Florida, branch of Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Notice of Charges alleges, among other things, that Lewis made false representations in her employment application and became employed at the bank in violation of federal law; caused fraudulent transactions totaling at least $389,000 to occur on bank customers’ credit card accounts; and kept bank equipment without authorization

The Small Business Administration has published [89 FR 68090] an interim final rule lengthening the required records retention for lenders that made loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to ten years. This interim final rule harmonizes the PPP lender records retention requirements with subsequent legislation extending the statute of limitations for criminal charges and civil enforcement actions for alleged PPP borrower fraud to ten years after the offense. The rule became effective yesterday. August 22, 2024.

The rule applies to all PPP lender loan records. This includes PPP loan applications that were withdrawn, approved, denied or cancelled, and all other PPP lender loan records for PPP loans with an outstanding balance, PPP loans that have been forgiven, and PPP loans that are in repayment or have been paid in full by the borrower as of August 22, 2024. However, to the extent that a federally regulated PPP lender destroyed any PPP loan records before the effective date of this rule in accordance with a general internal records retention policy that was acceptable to the PPP lender's federal regulator, SBA will not enforce compliance by that federally regulated PPP lender with respect to the PPP loan records that were destroyed before August 22, 2024.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday announced a proposed rule that would establish the housing goals for 2025-2027 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) would be required to meet on an annual basis. FHFA is requesting comments on all aspects of the proposed rule during the 60-day public comment period.

The housing goals ensure that the Enterprises, through their mortgage purchases, responsibly promote equitable access to affordable housing that reaches low- and moderate-income families, minority communities, and other underserved populations. For the single-family housing goals categories, the Enterprises must meet the benchmark level established in the final rule or meet the actual market level determined retrospectively for the year based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.

The proposed rule would establish a new process for evaluating compliance with the housing goals. Under the current regulation, if an Enterprise fails to meet a feasible housing goal, FHFA may require the Enterprise to submit a housing plan describing the steps that it will take to improve its performance. The proposed rule would provide that FHFA will not require a housing plan if the Enterprise’s performance met the level required by newly-defined Enforcement Factors. These Enforcement Factors address, in part, the uncertainty in forecasting the market several years in advance as well as the time lag in determining the actual market level retrospectively.

The CFPB reports it has ordered Fay Servicing LLC to pay a $2 million penalty for violations of mortgage servicing laws, as well as for violations of a 2017 agency order that addressed its illegal foreclosure practices. The company failed to implement the order’s requirements and continued to break the law. Fay Servicing took prohibited foreclosure actions against borrowers requesting mortgage assistance, failed to offer borrowers mortgage assistance options available to them, and overcharged for private mortgage insurance. In addition to the civil money penalty, the CFPB’s order requires Fay Servicing to pay consumer redress of $3 million and to invest $2 million to update its servicing technology and compliance management systems. The order also puts compensation limits on Edward Fay, the company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), if Mr. Fay does not take actions necessary to ensure compliance with the order.

In 2017, the CFPB took action against Fay Servicing for failing to provide mortgage borrowers with the protections against foreclosure that are required by consumer financial protection law. The CFPB found that the company kept borrowers in the dark about critical information about the process of applying for foreclosure relief. The CFPB also found instances where the servicer illegally launched or moved forward with the foreclosure process when borrowers were actively seeking help to save their homes. The CFPB ordered Fay Servicing to stop its illegal practices and to pay $1.15 million to harmed borrowers.

OFAC has announced efforts to modernize its infrastructure and approaches to engaging with stakeholders to ensure sanctions are easily understood and enforceable — a key recommendation highlighted in Treasury’s 2021 Sanctions Review that OFAC is working to implement.

To ensure that its guidance remains up to date and relevant for the public, OFAC is updating many of its FAQs on general sanctions questions and issues. These FAQs are often OFAC's most viewed guidance, as they deal with basic principles of sanctions implementation. The first installment of updated FAQs is available now (FAQs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 91, 126, 468, and 469) and includes guidance on key topics such as what OFAC means by “blocked property” and how to verify the authenticity of an OFAC document.

OFAC will continue reviewing FAQs through an ongoing process focused on providing up-to-date and useful information to the public. OFAC will announce subsequent FAQ updates via its Recent Actions Notices.

The FDIC has reported that its Board of Directors has selected Carrie H. Cohen, partner at Morrison Foerster LLP, to serve as the agency’s independent transformation monitor. In this capacity, Ms. Cohen will audit the FDIC’s ongoing efforts to implement its Action Plan for a Safe, Fair, and Inclusive Work Environment, including recommendations from an independent third-party review of the agency’s workplace culture, and report monthly to the Board and employees.

The FDIC has issued FIL-58-2024 with guidance to assist financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of South Dakota affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, and flooding from June 16 to July 8, 2024. As of August 21, the affected areas included Davison, Lincoln, Turner, and Union counties.