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FDIC fines banks for flood insurance, BSA violations
On May 31, the FDIC announced its release of a list of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in April. The list reflects that the FDIC issued 17 orders, which includes “two consent orders; three terminations of consent orders; five Section 19 orders; three removal and prohibition orders; and four orders to pay civil money penalty.” Among other actions, the FDIC assessed civil money penalties against three separate banks (see here, here, and here) for alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act, including failing to (i) obtain flood insurance coverage on loans at or before origination; (ii) maintain, increase, extend, renew, or provide written notification to borrowers concerning flood insurance coverage on loans secured by collateral located in special flood hazard areas; (iii) follow force-placement flood insurance procedures; or (iv) provide borrowers with notice of the availability of federal disaster relief assistance within a reasonable timeframe.
The FDIC also assessed a civil money penalty against a New York-based bank related to alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.
OCC releases April 2019 enforcement actions
On May 16, the OCC released a list of recent enforcement actions taken against national banks, federal savings associations, and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with such entities. The new enforcement actions include personal cease-and-desist orders, removal and prohibition orders, notice of charges against an individual, and terminations of existing enforcement actions against individuals and banks. The release also includes two civil money penalty orders discussed below.
On April 9, the OCC assessed $35,000 in civil money penalties against an Oklahoma-based bank for an alleged pattern or practice of violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act and its implementing regulations. Additionally, on April 24, the OCC assessed $136,000 in civil money penalties against a Texas-based bank for an alleged pattern or practice of failing to ensure timely notification and force-placement of flood insurance on property in special flood hazard areas, in violation of the National Flood Insurance Act.
FDIC fines banks for flood insurance, BSA violations; releases January enforcement actions
On February 22, the FDIC announced a list of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in January 2019. The 25 orders include “10 Section 19 orders; two civil money penalty; six prohibition orders; three consent orders; one prompt corrective order; three terminations of consent orders; and one notice.” The FDIC assessed a civil money penalty against a Texas-based bank for alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act including failing to either (i) obtain flood insurance coverage on loans at or before origination; or (ii) increase, renew, or extend flood insurance coverage on several loans secured by collateral located or to be located in special flood hazard areas.
The FDIC assessed a second civil money penalty against an Oklahoma-based bank related to alleged weaknesses in its programs concerning Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance, information technology (IT), and internal audits. Among other things, the bank was ordered to (i) grant the board full responsibility for the approval of bank policies and objectives related to the identified programs, as well as supervision of bank management; (ii) retain qualified personnel responsible for managing the BSA/AML and IT programs; (iii) revise its internal control programs to correct the identified deficiencies; (iv) obtain an independent public accounting firm to conduct an external financial statements audit and internal controls review; and (v) implement comprehensive written BSA/AML compliance programs.
Banking agencies issue final rule on private flood insurance
On February 12, the Federal Reserve Board, Farm Credit Administration, FDIC, National Credit Union Administration, and the OCC issued a joint final rule amending regulations governing loans secured by properties in special flood hazard areas to implement the provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 concerning private flood insurance. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the provisions, among other things, require regulated lending institutions to accept policies that meet the statutory definition of “private flood insurance,” and clarify that lending institutions may choose to accept private policies that do not meet the statutory criteria for “private flood insurance,” provided the policies meet certain criteria and the lending institutions document that the policies offer “sufficient protection for a designated loan, consistent with general safety and soundness principles.” The final rule takes effect July 1.
(See also FDIC FIL-8-2019, NCUA press release, and OCC press release.)
FDIC fines banks for flood insurance violations, releases December enforcement actions
On January 25, the FDIC announced a list of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in December. The 15 orders include “two Section 19 orders; one civil money penalty; three removal and prohibition orders; four consent orders; one prompt corrective order; three terminations of consent orders; and one notice.” The FDIC assessed a civil money penalty against an Illinois-based bank for alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act (FDPA) and the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA) including failing to (i) obtain flood insurance coverage on loans at origination; (ii) maintain flood insurance; and (iii) “properly force place flood insurance.”
A second civil money penalty was assessed against a Wisconsin-based bank for allegedly engaging in a pattern of violating the FDPA and the NFIA, including failing to (i) follow force placed flood insurance procedures, including notifying a borrower of a lapse in flood insurance coverage and force placing the necessary insurance in a timely fashion; (ii) obtain adequate flood insurance coverage on a loan at origination; and (iii) provide notice to a borrower concerning whether flood insurance under the NFIA was available for the collateral securing a loan.
There are no administrative hearings scheduled for February 2019. The FDIC database containing all 15 enforcement decisions and orders may be accessed here.
Final rule subject to approval will require federally regulated lending institutions to accept private flood insurance
Recently, the FDIC and OCC approved a joint final rule governing the acceptance of private flood insurance policies. (The final rule must also be approved by—and is still under review with—the other agencies jointly issuing the rule: the Federal Reserve Board, Farm Credit Administration, and National Credit Union Association.) The final rule amends regulations governing loans secured by properties in special flood hazard areas to implement the provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert Waters) concerning private flood insurance (see previous InfoBytes coverage of the proposed rule here). The National Flood Insurance Act and the Flood Disaster Protection Act require flood insurance on improved property that secures a loan made, increased, extended, or renewed by a federally regulated lending institution (lending institution) if the property is in a special flood hazard area for which flood insurance is available under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Biggert Waters required the Agencies to adopt regulations directing lending institutions to accept insurance that meets the definition of “private flood insurance” in lieu of NFIP flood insurance.
The final rule, once approved by all five regulators, will institute the following provisions to take effect July 1:
- Lending institutions must accept private flood insurance policies meeting the definition of “private flood insurance.”
- Lending institutions may rely on a “streamlined compliance aid provision” to determine, without further review, that a policy meet the definition of “private flood insurance” if the policy (or an endorsement to the policy) contains the following language: “This policy meets the definition of private flood insurance contained in 42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(7) and the corresponding regulation.”
- Lending institutions may choose to accept private policies that do not meet the statutory criteria for “private flood insurance” as long as the policies meet certain criteria and the lending institutions document that the policies offer “sufficient protection for a designated loan, consistent with general safety and soundness principles.”
- Lending institutions may exercise discretion when accepting non-traditional flood coverage issued by “mutual aid societies,” subject to certain conditions including that the lending institutions’ primary federal supervisory agency has determined that the plans qualify as flood insurance. However, the final rule does not require lending institutions to accept coverage issued by mutual aid societies.
FDIC releases October enforcement actions, includes BSA and TILA violations
On November 30, the FDIC announced a list of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in October. Included among the actions is an order to pay a civil money penalty of $9,600 issued against a Louisiana-based bank for alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act in connection with alleged failures to obtain flood insurance coverage on loans at or before origination or renewal.
Consent orders were also issued against three separate banks related to alleged weaknesses in their Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and/or BSA/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance programs. (See orders here, here, and here.) Among other things, the banks are ordered to: (i) implement comprehensive written BSA/AML compliance programs, which include revising BSA risk assessment policies, developing a system of BSA internal controls, and enhancing suspicious activity monitoring and reporting and customer due diligence procedures; (ii) conduct independent testing; and (iii) implement effective BSA training programs. The FDIC further requires the Florida and New Jersey-based banks to conduct suspicious activity reporting look-back reviews.
In addition, a Kentucky-based bank was ordered to pay a civil money of $300,000 for allegedly violating TILA by “failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose required information related to the [b]ank’s Elastic line of credit product” and Section 5 of the FTC ACT by “using a processing order for certain deposit account transactions contrary to the processing orders disclosed in the [b]ank’s deposit account disclosures.”
There are no administrative hearings scheduled for December 2018. The FDIC database containing all 17 enforcement decisions and orders may be accessed here.
FDIC releases July enforcement actions
On August 31, the FDIC announced a list of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in July. The 15 orders include “three Section 19 orders; four removal and prohibition orders; one civil money penalty; three terminations of consent orders; and four adjudicated decisions.” The FDIC assessed a $10,800 civil money penalty against a New Mexico-based bank for alleged violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act in connection with alleged failures to (i) obtain flood insurance coverage on loans at or before origination or renewal; (ii) maintain flood insurance; (iii) notify borrowers that they were required to obtain flood insurance; and (iv) obtain flood insurance on a borrower’s behalf when the borrower did not obtain insurance within 45 days after receiving such notification. There are no administrative hearings scheduled for September 2018. The FDIC database containing all 15 enforcement decisions and orders may be accessed here.
FDIC releases June enforcement actions
On July 27, the FDIC announced a list of orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in June. The 12 orders include “four Section 19 orders; one civil money penalty; one removal and prohibition order; one prompt corrective action directive; three terminations of consent orders; one termination of prompt corrective action directive; and one modification of removal and prohibition order.” The civil money penalty order relates to violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act by a Mississippi-based bank for allegedly failing to obtain flood insurance coverage on seven loans secured by buildings located, or to be located, in a special flood area at or before loan origination or renewal. There are no administrative hearings scheduled for August 2018. The FDIC database containing all 12 enforcement decisions and orders may be accessed here.
FDIC releases April enforcement actions, including flood insurance and BSA/AML violations
On May 25, the FDIC released a list of 35 administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in April. Civil money penalties were assessed against several individuals and one bank. The FDIC assessed a $5,000 civil money penalty against a New Jersey-based bank, citing violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act for allegedly failing to ensure 20 properties were adequately covered by flood insurance for the term of the loan. Additionally, the FDIC issued two consent orders, one against a South Dakota-based bank for unsafe or unsound banking practices or violations of law or regulation. The FDIC ordered the bank to, among other things, (i) retain qualified management; (ii) develop an independent external loan review program; and (iii) develop a plan to address the weaknesses in the bank’s audit and internal controls. The second consent order alleges violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) rules by a Maryland-based bank. The bank is ordered to, among other things, (i) perform an enhanced risk assessment of the bank’s operations; (ii) revise and implement internal controls for BSA/AML compliance; and (iii) take necessary steps to correct or eliminate all cited violations.
Also on the list are 11 Section 19 orders, which allow applicants to participate in the affairs of an insured depository institution after having demonstrated “satisfactory evidence of rehabilitation,” and four terminations of consent orders.
There are no administrative hearings scheduled for June 2018. The FDIC database containing all 35 enforcement decisions and orders may be accessed here.