On July 26, 2022, the FTC published a proposed rule and is seeking public comment on the proposed revisions to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The Guides are designed to assist businesses and others in conforming their endorsement and testimonial advertising practices to the requirements of section 5 of the FTC Act, also known as “Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices”.

On July 21, 2022, the NCUA announced during its seventh open meeting of 2022 that it is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking on cyber incident notification requirements. The proposed rule would require a federally insured credit union (FICU) to notify the NCUA as soon as possible but no later than 72 hours after they reasonably believe that a reportable cyber incident has occurred.

VIDEO: Goal of a Compliance Management System

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam discusses the importance of a well designed Compliance Management System (CMS) and explains what the goal should be for a CMS. Maybe even more importantly, Adam explains what he considers a key element needed to be able to have an effective CMS. The video concludes with an explanation about how our premium memberships can assist financial institutions in implementing and managing their Compliance Management Systems.

On July 15, 2022, the FDIC issued a statement, adding a new Question and Answer (Q&A), and updating public information on the Banker Resource Center Brokered Deposits Page, to remind FDIC-insured depository institutions (IDIs) that deposits swept from broker dealers with a primary purpose exception to unaffiliated IDIs must be reported as brokered if there are any additional third parties involved that qualify as a deposit broker.

On July 14, 2022, the OCC assessed a $125 million civil money penalty against Bank of America, N.A., for violations of law and unsafe or unsound practices relating to the bank’s administration of a prepaid card program to distribute unemployment insurance and other public benefit payments. The OCC also ordered the bank to provide remediation to consumers harmed by the bank’s practices and violations of law.

On July 14, 2022, the CFPB fined Bank of America $100 million for botching the disbursement of state unemployment benefits at the height of the pandemic. According to the CFPB’s press release, Bank of America automatically and unlawfully froze people’s accounts with a faulty fraud detection program, and then gave them little recourse when there was, in fact, no fraud. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is also fining the bank $125 million in a separate order.