All in Regulatory Update

FinCEN Issues Updated FATF Deficient Countries

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On July 1, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a news release to announce updates to the FATF list of jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing deficiencies. As updates to the FATF list were previously issued as advisories, FinCEN explained that this news release should be treated the same way as prior advisories - implying that future updates to the FATF list will continue to come as news releases rather than advisories.

FinCEN Issues National AML Priorities

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On 6/30/2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a set of government-wide priorities for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policy. The Priorities identify and describe the most significant AML/CFT threats currently facing the United States and include: corruption, cybercrime, domestic and international terrorist financing, fraud, transnational criminal organizations, drug trafficking organizations, human trafficking and human smuggling, and proliferation financing. FinCEN also issued two statements to provide guidance to covered institutions on how to approach the Priorities.

New FFIEC IT Booklet

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 6/30/2021, the CFPB announced that the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued a new IT booklet titled “Architecture, Infrastructure, and Operations.” According to the CFPB release, the booklet provides expanded guidance to help financial institution examiners assess the risk profile and adequacy of an entity’s information technology architecture, infrastructure, and operations.

CFPB Issues Summer 2021 Edition of Supervisory Highlights

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 6/29/2021, the CFPB released a new issue of their publication, Supervisory Highlights. In this edition, the CFPB provides a report highlighting legal violations identified by the Bureau’s examinations in 2020. The report also highlights prior CFPB supervisory findings that led to public enforcement actions in 2020 resulting in more than $124 million in consumer remediation and civil money penalties.

FDIC & Federal Reserve List of 2021 Distressed or Underserved Non-Metro Middle-Income Geographies

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 6/25/2021, the FFIEC announced that both the Federal Reserve and the FDIC announced the availability of the 2021 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies. These are geographic areas where revitalization or stabilization activities are eligible to receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration under the community development definition.

More FFIEC BSA/AML Exam Manual Updates

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

on 6/21/2021, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced additional updates to four more sections of their BSA/AML Examination Manual. The long-time Exam Manual provides instructions to examiners for assessing the adequacy of a bank’s or credit union’s BSA/AML compliance program and its compliance with BSA regulatory requirements. The new updates to the Exam Manual are the second round in 2021 and the third round of updates since January 2020. These updates mark the regulators quest for updating the majority of the Exam Manual, though they have repeatedly stated that all updates should not be interpreted as new instructions or increased focus on certain areas.

CFPB Issues Statement on Juneteenth Holiday & Mortgage Closings

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, Regulation Z, TRID

On 6/18/2021, CFPB Acting Director, Dave Uegio, issued a statement on the impact of the new Juneteenth Holiday on residential mortgage closings. As a background, President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 17, 2021, just two days before the actual new holiday of June 19, 2021. As this new holiday is a Federal Holiday, Financial Institutions immediately had concerns regarding implementation of the new Juneteenth Federal Holiday, particularly as it relates to mortgage compliance under Regulation Z and the Truth in Lending Act.

CFPB Resumes MLA Exams

Adam Witmer
MLA, Regulatory Update

On 6/16/21, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule that explains the basis for its authority to examine supervised financial institutions for risks to active duty servicemembers and their dependents (i.e. military borrowers) from conduct that violates the Military Lending Act (MLA). In 2018, the CFPB’s leadership discontinued MLA-related examination activities, based on its stated belief that Congress did not specifically confer examination authority on the CFPB with respect to the MLA. The current CFPB leadership does not find those prior beliefs persuasive and the CFPB will now resume MLA-related examination activities.

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