The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Federal Reserve Board asks for comments on a proposed rule that would amend the recordkeeping and travel rule regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act. FinCEN and the Board, pursuant to their shared authority, are proposing amendments to the recordkeeping rule jointly, while FinCEN, pursuant to its sole authority, is proposing amendments to … Read More
Ability to Repay and Qualified Mortgages (ATR/QM)
On October 20, 2020 the CFPB issued a final rule amending the ATR/QM Rule. The rule extends the sunset date for the Temporary GSE QM category (GSE Patch). With certain exceptions, Regulation Z requires creditors to make a reasonable, good faith determination of a consumer’s ability to repay any residential mortgage loan, and loans that meet Regulation Z’s requirements for … Read More
FIN-2020-A008 Supplemental Advisory on Identifying and Reporting Human Trafficking and Related Activity.
In 2014 FinCEN published Advisory FIN-2014-A008, Guidance on Recognizing Activity that May be Associated with Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking — Financial Red Flags. On October 15, 2020 FinCEN published a supplement to the 2014 Advisory, FIN-2020-A008, Supplemental Advisory on Identifying and Reporting Human Trafficking and Related Activity. Since the 2014 Advisory, FinCEN identified 20 new financial and behavioral indicators … Read More
Updates to FinCEN Rules and Regulations – Compliance deadline March 15, 2021
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programs are intended to assist financial institutions with detecting and reporting suspicious activities to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury. In a newly published FinCEN rule, a state-chartered trust company (i.e. with no functional Federal regulator) must implement an AML program and is further required to comply with the Customer Due … Read More
Unemployment Insurance Fraud
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued advisory FIN-2020-A007, Advisory on Unemployment Insurance Fraud During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. The advisory was issued to alert financial institutions to unemployment insurance (UI) fraud observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The advisory includes descriptions of COVID-19-related UI fraud, associated financial red flag indicators, and information on reporting suspicious activity. Financial red … Read More
Sometimes it adds up
Penalties can add up quickly for ineffective vendor oversight of an insufficient compliance management system. The OCC hit Morgan Stanley with a $60,000,000 civil penalty for not having proper oversight of decommissioning two data centers and deficiencies in vendor oversight. From the Consent Order: “In 2016, the Bank failed to exercise proper oversight of the decommissioning of two Wealth Management … Read More
RESPA FAQs
On October 7, the CFPB released a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) discussing topics under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Regulation X. The FAQs provide an overview of the provisions in RESPA Section 8 (and the respective sections in Regulation X), and they address the application of these provisions to gifts and promotional activities and also … Read More
NCUA Examiner’s Guide & COVID-19
While we are all getting tired of hearing “COVID-19” multiple times a day, this time it may help you when examiners come to visit. On June 30, the NCUA updated its Examiner’s Guide to include a section on COVID-19. The section begins with “The COVID-19 pandemic may have a lasting impact on credit unions’ financial and operational conditions. Examiners should … Read More
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Since October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, FinCEN and OFAC have published advisories aiming to increase cybersecurity awareness and aid institutions in responding and reporting incidents. The FinCEN Advisory – Advisory on Ransomware and the Use of the Financial System to Facilitate Ransom Payments The advisory provides information on: (1) the role of financial intermediaries in the processing of ransomware … Read More
September’s Regulatory Recap
September’s Regulatory Recap is now available here. Let us know if we can help in any way. Please be advised that CSG provides financial services compliance audit and consulting services to our clients. The services that we provide include certain tasks that may be characterized as “law-related services” under Rule 5.7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers. Since some … Read More