Regulatory Compliance

The UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s January 2021 report—entitled “Preventing Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking: An Agenda for Action across the Financial Services Sector” (the “report”)—has concluded that there is a significant lack of awareness of modern slavery risks within the financial services sector (the “sector”).

The Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, notes that “modern slavery has been estimated to generate $150 billion in profits annually” constituting “one of the top three international crimes alongside drug trafficking and trade in counterfeit goods.”  The report accordingly calls on the sector to “detect and disrupt this serious organised criminality” and to take proactive steps to mitigate the various risks associated with modern slavery, including financial, regulatory, legal, governance and reputational risks.…

Continue Reading The UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s January 2021 Report: Mitigating Modern Slavery in Financial Services

On April 23, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board (“Board”) announced that it will provide “extensive” public information on the borrowers, interest rates, and loan amounts pertaining to the funding from the coronavirus emergency lending programs.
Continue Reading Federal Reserve to Disclose Information on Borrowers of Emergency Lending Programs

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve provided financial institutions with $5 billion or less in total assets a thirty-day extension to the deadline for filing certain first quarter bank holding company financial reports, and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) provided a similar thirty-day extension of the deadline for all institutions (regardless of size) to submit their March call reports.…
Continue Reading Federal Reserve and FFIEC Offer Regulatory Reporting Relief

On October 17, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and National Credit Union Administration released for public comment a proposed interagency policy statement on allowances for credit losses (“ACLs”).  The proposed policy statement reflects the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s adoption of the current expected credit losses (“CECL”) methodology.
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Continue Reading Agencies Propose CECL Policy Statement

On October 3, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), and the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released an Interagency Statement on Sharing Bank Secrecy Act Resources (the “Statement”). The Statement encourages banks to consider entering into collaborative arrangements to manage their Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance obligations. The Statement uses the BSA’s definition of “bank,” which includes each agent, agency, branch, or office within the United States of banks, savings associations, credit unions, and foreign banks.
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Continue Reading Regulators Encourage Lower-risk Banks to Join Forces for Bank Secrecy Act and AML Compliance

The Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which took effect on January 13, 2018, puts an obligation on banks to give Third Party Providers (TPPs) access to a customer’s payment account data, provided the customer expressly consents to such disclosure. The new legislation is intended to improve competition and innovation in the EU market for payment services. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is due to take effect from May 25, 2018, enhances individuals’ rights when it comes to protecting their personal data. The interaction between PSD2, aimed at increasing the seamless sharing of data, and the GDPR, aimed at regulating such sharing, raises complicated compliance concerns.

For example, where banks refrain from providing TPPs access to customer payment data for fear of breaching the privacy rights of their customers under the GDPR, competition authorities may consider this a breach of competition law. This concern is already becoming a reality for banks – on October 3, 2017, the European Commission carried out dawn raids on banking associations in Poland and the Netherlands following complaints from fintech rivals that the associations were not providing them with what they considered legitimate access to customer payment data.…

Continue Reading Overlap Between the GDPR and PSD2

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC” or the “Commission”) has been very active since the beginning of this year, despite the change in Presidential Administration, the lack (until recently) of appointed Commissioners, and the turnover of leadership at both the Commission and Division level.  Notably, the Commission has announced over 20 enforcement actions,…

On November 7, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) announced that the agency will begin phasing in a new, centralized online system for processing licensing and public welfare investment applications and notices filed by national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies (collectively, “banks”).
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Continue Reading OCC Announces New Centralized Online System for Licensing and Public Welfare Investment Filings