Former U.S. Bank Risk Officer Fined for BSA Failures

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On March 4, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $450,000 civil money penalty against the former Chief Operational Risk Officer, Michael LaFontaine, at U.S. Bank for his failure to prevent BSA/AML violations during his time of employment. In their release, FinCEN explains that U.S. Bank used automated transaction monitoring software to spot potentially suspicious activity but improperly capped the number of alerts generated. In addition, FinCEN states that while under the former risk officer’s leadership, the bank failed to staff the BSA compliance function with enough people to review even the reduced number of alerts.

FinCEN explains that…

Thank You!

Adam Witmer

We wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who continue to refer our website to other compliance professionals. We are constantly working to make the Compliance Cohort a great resource for the compliance industry, but it doesn’t mean anything if no one knows about it. So, THANK YOU to the many of you who have shared the Compliance Cohort with others who might be interested in our site. We really appreciate it and are truly grateful for your referrals.

Changing a Lender Credit

Changing a Lender Credit

Adam Witmer
TRID

Adam uses this Compliance Clip (video) to answer this question: can a lender credit change? Adam takes a pretty deep dive answering this question and gives a background of the original TRID rule, talks about TRID 2.0 and, more importantly, the brand new guidance from the CFPB regarding lender credits. This video might be a great training opportunity for your lending staff as it is a sample of what we plan to cover in our upcoming Spring 2020 Quarterly Compliance Update, where we plan to review not just this one FAQ, but all ten new TRID FAQs - so be sure to watch for that program in our store in mid-to-late April.

FTC Releases Annual ECOA Report

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On February 21, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided their annual Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) report to the CFPB. The FTC is responsible for ECOA enforcement and education regarding most non-bank financial service providers and the report describes the Commission’s work on ECOA-related issues, including activities addressed in research and policy development. The summary also outlines the Commission’s business and consumer education efforts on fair lending issues.

Wells Fargo Sales Abuse Results in $3 Billion Fine

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On February 21, 2020, the Department of Justice announced an agreement where Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. will pay $3 billion to resolve their potential criminal and civil liability stemming from a practice between 2002 and 2016 of pressuring employees to meet unrealistic sales goals that led thousands of employees to provide millions of accounts or products to customers under false pretenses or without consent, often by creating false records or misusing customers’ identities.

Congratulations HMDA Reporters!

Adam Witmer

As Monday, March 2 is the last day to submit HMDA for 2020, most of you HMDA reporters should be winding down if you haven’t already done so. For those of you that still have a mess on your hands, good luck this weekend and be sure to keep the coffee going. For the rest of you, congratulations on another year done.

And depending on what HMDA final rules we see this year (yes, we are expecting two), some of you may have just submitted your last HMDA LAR. Now isn’t that a nice thought after a long HMDA season?

Reg CC Change In Terms Notice Timing Requirements

Reg CC Change In Terms Notice Timing Requirements

Adam Witmer
Regulation CC

Adam uses this week’s Compliance Clip (video) to answer this question: Is a change in terms notice required for the upcoming July 1, 2020 changes to Regulation CC, and if so, is advance notice to our customers required? The reality is that this single topic is causing a lot of confusion in the industry and many have been told incorrect answers to this question. Therefore, Adam sets the record straight in this short, free video. Click the link below to watch the video.

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