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  • OFAC reaches $5.2 million settlement with Hong Kong company for apparent Iranian sanctions violations

    Financial Crimes

    On January 11, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $5.2 million settlement with a Hong Kong, China-based company for allegedly processing certain transactions related to goods of Iranian origin through U.S. financial institutions in violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR). According to OFAC’s web notice, from August 2016 through May 2018, certain company employees violated company-wide policies and procedures by causing the company to purchase Iranian-origin goods from a supplier in Thailand for resale to buyers in China. Under the terms of the trading arrangement, the company made 60 separate U.S. dollar payments from its bank in Hong Kong to the Thai supplier’s banks in Thailand, transferring a total of $75.6 million. Each of these payments were allegedly “processed and settled through multiple U.S. financial institutions, including the U.S. correspondent banks of the Hong Kong and Thai banks.” Due to the noncompliant employees’ misconduct, the funds transfer instructions omitted references to Iran. As a result, U.S. financial institutions were unable to flag the transfers as violating the ITSR, which would have “caused them to reject and report each of these U.S. dollar denominated funds transfers.”

    In calculating the settlement amount, OFAC considered the following aggravating factors: (i) the noncompliant employees omitted Iranian country of origin references from all relevant transactional documents over a period of two years, despite knowing and having been advised repeatedly that this conduct violated the ITSR and company policy; (ii) the noncompliant employees “had actual knowledge about the [supplier’s] relation to Iran”; (iii) the company’s actions conferred significant economic benefits to Iran, specifically with respect to Iran’s petrochemical sector; and (iv) the company “is a sophisticated offshore trading and cross-border trade financing company with ready access to experience and expertise in international trade, investment, financing, and sanctions compliance.”

    OFAC also considered various mitigating factors, including that (i) the company repeatedly reminded noncompliant employees not to make U.S. dollar payments in connection with Iran-related business transactions; (ii) senior management and compliance personnel were unaware of the violations due to the concealment of the information internally; (iii) the company has not received a penalty notice from OFAC in the preceding five years; and (iv) the company voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations, cooperated with OFAC’s investigation, and has undertaken significant remedial measures to ensure sanctions compliance.

    Financial Crimes Of Interest to Non-US Persons OFAC Department of Treasury OFAC Sanctions OFAC Designations Settlement Enforcement Hong Kong Iran China

  • FinCEN requests comments on renewal of the OMB control number

    Financial Crimes

    On January 11, FinCEN issued a notice in the Federal Register soliciting comments on the renewal of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number assigned to the regulation requiring reports of transactions with foreign financial agencies (FFAs). According to the notice, the regulation in the Bank Secrecy Act authorizes the Treasury Secretary “to promulgate regulations requiring specified financial institutions to file reports with [FinCEN] of certain transactions with designated [FFAs].” Although no changes are proposed to the information collection itself, the notice gives stakeholders an opportunity to comment on existing regulatory requirements and related burden estimates under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The notice also proposes for review and comment a methodology to expand the scope of future estimates for purposes of the PRA to account for cost and time when a financial institution must also report on multiple prior (“backward-looking”) and future (“forward-looking”) transactions with a designated FFA, thus “intending to be more granular in the estimates of resources expended to comply with these regulatory requirements.” Comments must be received by March 14, 2022.

    Financial Crimes Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FinCEN Federal Register OMB Bank Secrecy Act Of Interest to Non-US Persons

  • FDIC and FinCEN launch Tech Sprint to help digital identity proofing

    Fintech

    On January 11, the FDIC’s technology lab, FDiTech, and FinCEN announced the launch of a Tech Sprint challenging participants “to develop solutions for financial institutions and regulators to help measure the effectiveness of digital identity proofing—the process used to collect, validate, and verify information about a person.” According to the Tech Sprint program, Measuring the Effectiveness of Digital Identity Proofing for Digital Financial Services, solutions developed from this Tech Sprint will inform future FDIC, FinCEN, and industry-led efforts, plans, and programs to: (i) increase efficiency and account security; (ii) decrease fraud and other forms of identity-related crime, money laundering and terrorist financing; and (iii) foster customer confidence in the digital banking environment. According to the agencies, digital identity proofing is “challenged by the proliferation of compromised personally identifiable information, the increasing use of synthetic identities, and the presence of multiple, varied approaches for identity proofing.” The FDIC and FinCEN will open registration in the coming weeks, and stakeholders interested in participating will have approximately two weeks to submit applications.

    Fintech FDIC FDiTech Consumer Finance Bank Regulatory FinCEN Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security

  • 3rd Circuit vacates TILA/RESPA judgment in favor of mortgage lender

    Courts

    On January 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated an order granting summary judgment in favor of a mortgage lender (defendant) for alleged violations of TILA and RESPA, among other claims. The plaintiff, a retired disabled military veteran, contracted with a home builder to purchase a home and used the defendant to obtain mortgage financing, which was later transferred to a servicing company. The plaintiff contended that the defendant allegedly (i) provided outdated TILA and RESPA disclosures; (ii) misrepresented that the plaintiff would not have to pay property taxes; (iii) failed to make a reasonable and good faith determination of the plaintiff’s ability to pay; and (iv) failed to provide notice of the transfer of servicing rights. On appeal, the 3rd Circuit determined that the defendant did not meet the initial burden to show no genuine dispute as to any material fact related to the plaintiff’s claims, and remanded the action. Without assessing the evidentiary value of the testimonies and materials submitted by each party in support of their own version of events, the appellate court reasoned that “these materials do not foreclose a reasonable jury from crediting [the plaintiff’s] testimony over [the defendant’s] account and finding [the defendant] liable.”

    Courts Appellate Third Circuit TILA RESPA Consumer Finance Mortgages State Issues Regulation Z Regulation X

  • Supreme Court vacates $10 million judgment in light of TransUnion ruling

    Courts

    On January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a short summary disposition granting a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a lender and an appraisal management company. Rather than hearing arguments in the case, the Court immediately vacated the judgment against the defendants and ordered the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reexamine its decision in light of the Court’s ruling in TransUnion v. Ramirez (which clarified the type of concrete injury necessary to establish Article III standing, and was covered by InfoBytes here).

    As previously covered by InfoBytes, in March 2021, a divided 4th Circuit affirmed a district court’s award of over $10 million in penalties and damages based on a summary judgment that an appraisal practice common before 2009 was unconscionable under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act. During the appeal, the defendants argued that summary judgment was wrongfully granted and that the class should not have been certified since individual issues predominated over common ones, but the appellate court majority determined, among other things, that there was not a large number of uninjured members within the plaintiffs’ class because plaintiffs paid for independent appraisals and “received appraisals that were tainted.”

    The defendants argued in their petition to the Court that the 4th Circuit’s “fundamentally unjust” holding could not stand in the wake of TransUnion, which ruled that every class member must be concretely harmed by an alleged statutory violation in order to have Article III standing. According to the defendants, the divided panel “affirmed the class certification and the class-wide statutory-damages award, because the class members all faced the same risk of harm: the appraisers had been ‘exposed’ to the supposed procedural error, and the class members paid for the appraisals, even though the court ‘cannot evaluate whether’ any harm ever materialized.”

    Courts U.S. Supreme Court Fourth Circuit Appellate Appraisal Appraisal Management Companies Settlement Mortgages State Issues Consumer Finance West Virginia

  • FFIEC proposes amendments to temporary waiver proceedings

    On January 13, the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) published a request for comments on proposed amendments to provide greater transparency and clarity to the existing rules of practice and procedure governing temporary waiver proceedings. The existing temporary waiver proceedings, which were promulgated in 1992 under FIRREA, allow temporary waivers to be granted if a state appraiser regulatory agency makes a written determination that a scarcity of state-certified or licensed appraisers in a state or geographical area is causing significant delays in the performance of real estate appraisals utilized in connection with federally related transactions. Temporary waivers terminate once the ASC determines that the significant delays have been eliminated.

    The FFIEC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) seeks “to clarify the procedural differences in processing a Request for Temporary Waiver accompanied by a written determination as compared to a Petition requesting the ASC exercise its discretion to initiate a temporary waiver proceeding.” Among other things, the NPRM would allow the ASC to draw a clear distinction between: (i) a state appraiser regulatory agency’s request that is accompanied by a written determination (referred to in the NPRM as a “Request for Temporary Waiver”); and (ii) information received from other persons or entities, which could include a state appraiser regulatory agency (referred to as a “Petition”). As presented in the NPRM’s accompanying flowchart, the procedures will vary depending on whether the ASC has received a Request for Temporary Waiver or a Petition requesting the initiation of a temporary waiver proceeding. Comments on the NPRM must be received by March 14.

    Bank Regulatory Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FFIEC Appraisal FIRREA Temporary Waiver State Issues

  • Fed streamlines reporting requirements for member banks

    On January 10, the Federal Reserve announced a final rule regarding reporting requirements for member banks related to adjusting subscriptions to Federal Reserve Bank capital stock. Specifically, the Fed noted that the “technical rule” amends Regulation I to decrease the quarterly reporting burden for member banks by automating the application process for adjusting their subscriptions to Federal Reserve Bank capital stock, except in the context of mergers. Under the new process, Reserve Banks will adjust a member bank’s stock subscription each time the member bank files a Call Report, eliminating the need for member banks to file applications to adjust their stock subscriptions (except in the context of mergers). Additionally, the Fed codified its current practices of requiring a surviving member bank to apply to adjust its stock subscription prior to merging or consolidating with another bank. The final rule is effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

    Bank Regulatory Federal Register Federal Reserve Call Report Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

  • Agencies adjust civil penalties to account for inflation

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    Recently, the CFPB, CFTC, FDIC, FinCen, FHFA, and OCC provided notice in the Federal Register regarding adjustments to the maximum civil money penalties due to inflation pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. Each notice or final rule (see CFPB here, CFTC here, FDIC here, FinCen here, FHFA here, and OCC here) adjusts the maximum amounts of civil money penalties and provides a chart reflecting the inflation-adjusted maximum amounts associated with the penalty tiers for particular types of violations within each regulator’s jurisdiction. The OCC’s adjusted civil money penalty amounts are applicable to penalties assessed on or after January 12. The new CFPB, CFTC, FDIC, and FHFA civil money penalty amounts are applicable to penalties assessed on or after January 15. FinCEN's adjusted civil money penalty amounts are effective January 24. 

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance OCC CFPB CFTC FDIC FHFA Bank Regulatory Assessments Fees Civil Money Penalties FinCEN

  • CFPB releases 2022 rural or underserved counties lists

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    Recently, the CFPB released its annual lists of rural counties and rural or underserved counties for lenders to use when determining qualified exemptions to certain TILA regulatory requirements. In connection with these releases, the Bureau also directed lenders to use its web-based Rural or Underserved Areas Tool to assess whether a rural or underserved area qualifies for a safe harbor under Regulation Z.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance CFPB Underserved TILA Regulation Z

  • CFPB issues guidance on medical debt covered by the NSA

    Federal Issues

    On January 13, the CFPB released a new Bulletin to remind debt collectors and credit reporting agencies (CRAs) of their legal obligations under the FDCPA and the FCRA when collecting, furnishing information about, and reporting medical debts covered by the No Surprises Act (NSA). Effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, the NSA establishes new federal protections against surprise medical bills arising out of certain out-of-network emergency care. The CFPB notes that medical debt often poses special risks to consumers as consumers are “rarely informed of the costs of medical treatment in advance” and are “generally ill suited to the task of identifying [medical] billing errors.” Specifically, the Bulletin reminds debt collectors of the FDCPA prohibition against “false representation of the ‘character, amount, or legal status of any debt’” and the use of any “unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt.” According to the Bulletin, these would include “misrepresenting that a consumer must pay a debt stemming from a charge that exceeds the amount permitted by the [NSA].” The Bulletin also reminded debt collectors, as furnishers of information to CRAs, and the CRAs themselves of their obligations under the FCRA to assure the accuracy of information furnished or included in a consumer report, as well as to “conduct reasonable and timely investigations of consumer disputes to verify the accuracy of furnished information.” The Bulletin clarified that the accuracy and dispute obligations imposed by the FCRA “apply with respect to debts stemming from charges that exceed the amount permitted” by the NSA. The Bulletin further offered several examples of acts or practices that may be violative of the FDCPA and/or the FCRA in connection with medical debt covered by the NSA. According to the Bulletin, the CFPB “will hold debt collectors accountable for failing to comply with the FDCPA and Regulation F, and it will hold CRAs and furnishers accountable for failing to comply with the FCRA and Regulation V.” The Bureau also noted that it “will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other partners to address medical debt abuses.”

    Federal Issues CFPB FCRA FDCPA Regulation V Credit Reporting Agency No Surprises Act Debt Collection

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