Month: May 2018

Federal Banking Regulators Mete Out $1.078 Billion in CMPs Since April

~ Mary Crotty ~ Leave a comment
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On May 25, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) published its April enforcement actions, which included four orders to pay civil money penalties (CMPs), totaling $160,000. That’s not much of a story, but further digging reveals that between the FDIC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), federal banking regulators handed out $1,078,384,245 in CMPs from early April to early May.

(No enforcement actions were found for this time period on the National Credit Union Administration’s website.)

A closer look at these enforcement actions adds interesting context to the hefty fine total.

Both Individuals and Institutions Fined

In addition to the FDIC’s four orders to pay a CMP, the OCC issued seven such enforcement actions, while FinCEN and the CFPB issued one each, and the FRB issued two, for a total of 17 enforcement actions involving monetary fines. Those actions break down as follows:

  • Seven levied against institution-affiliated individuals: These current and former executives and/or directors were fined a total of $410,000, with CMPs ranging from $5,000 to $175,000.
  • Seven levied against traditional financial institutions: PNC Bank and Wells Fargo were each fined twice and three other banks were fined once by various agencies for a total of $1,069,974,245 in CMPs. The OCC and CFPB-combined $1 billion fine against Wells Fargo represents the majority of the bank fines. However, two other banks were still hit with significant fines: The OCC fined PNC $15 million and the FRB fined Goldman Sachs $54.75 million.
  • One levied against a casino: Per the USA PATRIOT Act’s broader definition of “financial institution,” FinCEN fined a casino (or card club) $8 million.

The Alleged and Admitted Violations

The seven institution-affiliated individuals were fined for a variety of reasons, including conducting unsafe and unsound practices, such as masking reporting losses; violating previous consent orders or failing to correct deficiencies cited in them; understating the allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL) leading to a false or misleading CALL Report; and causing “the Bank to pay for personal expenditures without disclosure or authorization.”

The remaining CMPs levied against institutions involve the following laws or regulations:

  • Three institutions allegedly violated flood-related regulations: This includes a $5,000 fine from the FDIC, a $12,000 fine from the FRB, and a $207,245 fine from the OCC.
  • Two institutions allegedly violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA): The OCC fined PNC $15 million for deceptive acts or practices in violation of the FTCA, and it fined Wells Fargo $500 million for unsafe and unsound practices in violation of the same.
  • One institution allegedly violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA): The CFPB fined Wells Fargo $1 billion for unfair and deceptive acts in violation of the CFPA, however it credited the OCC’s $500 million CMP towards the satisfaction of its own fine.
  • One institution admittedly violated the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA): FinCEN’s $8 million enforcement action against the above-referenced casino was due to its failure to establish and implement an effective anti-money laundering program as per the BSA.
  • One institution allegedly conducted unsafe and unsound practices in its Foreign Exchange Trading Business: The FRB fined Goldman Sachs “for deficiencies in Goldman’s internal controls and oversight of traders who buy and sell U.S. dollars and foreign currencies for the firm’s own accounts and for customers.”

The Million and Billion Dollar Fines

If you haven’t kept count, of the eight institutional fines, five of them exceeded a million dollars, three of them consisted of multi-million dollar CMPs, and Wells Fargo’s total fine hit the $1 billion mark.

Perhaps it is worth noting that the other three institutional fines ($5,000, $12,000 and $207,245) were the flood-related violations.

While the Trump administration’s deregulation stance is providing some much welcomed regulatory relief, this month’s worth of CMPs indicates that compliance with remaining laws and regulations is still a priority for federal banking regulators.

 

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The OCC’s Risk Outlook

~ Mary Crotty ~ Leave a comment

This week the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its Semiannual Risk Perspective, which gives bank compliance officers and risk managers an important glimpse into the federal banking agency’s current outlook on risk.

Here is a brief summary of the report.

The Basics of the OCC’s Semiannual Risk Perspective

Every six months, the OCC’s National Risk Committee (NRC) issues the agency’s Semiannual Risk Perspective. According to the introduction to the Perspective, the NRC is made up of senior OCC supervisory and policy officials who meet quarterly.

The NRC is responsible for monitoring “the condition of the federal banking system and identifying key risks,” as well as monitoring emerging threats.

This Spring 2018 Semiannual Risk Perspective was published on May 24, 2018, and is based on data as of March 31, 2018, except where otherwise noted.

Overall Report Card

The Perspective’s Executive Summary provides an overall status of the banking system:

  • Condition of Federal Banking System: Strong
  • Comparison of System’s Condition: 2017 and 2018 show improvement over 2016
  • Economic Environment: Supports loan growth and profitability
  • Asset Quality: Sound
  • Capital and Liquidity: Near historical highs
  • Earnings: Improving
  • Overall Risk Management Practices: Incrementally improving

On Operational Risk

The OCC reports that “Operational Risk is elevated as banks adapt business models, transform technology and operating processes, and respond to evolving cyber threats.”

Specific threats to operational risk include the following:

  • Ever increasing threat of cyber attacks
  • Growing bank reliance on third-party vendors to perform critical functions
  • Concentration of third-party risk due to the “consolidation among large technology service providers”
  • Evolving business and operating models that include new delivery channels, products, and services

On Compliance Risk

The OCC warns that Compliance Risk “remains elevated,” with particular concern in the following areas:

  • Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Compliance Challenges: The combination of the “dynamic nature” of money laundering along with “evolving delivery channels” makes complying with the BSA difficult. The OCC warns banks that are “engaging in such offerings” to refine and update their BSA compliance programs to ensure they are adequately mitigating the associated risks.
  • BSA and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance Risk Management Systems: The OCC notes that, such BSA/AML risk management systems “often do not keep pace with evolving risks, resource constraints, changes in business models, and regulatory changes.”
  • OFAC Sanctions: The OCC questions whether bank OFAC compliance programs are keeping pace with the increasing number and complexity of sanctions programs.
  • Overall Regulatory Complexity: The number of amended regulations and/or highly complex requirements continue to present challenges for banks.
  • Specific Complexity of TRID: The OCC acknowledges the continued bank struggle to incorporate the Truth-in-Lending RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) forms.

On Interest Rate Risk

The OCC states that, “There is uncertainty in how bank deposits will react to increasing interest rates. Banks may experience unexpected adverse shifts in liability mix or increasing costs that may adversely affect earnings or increase liquidity risk.”

Read the OCC’s complete Semiannual Risk Perspective for Spring 2018 for an even more in-depth analysis of the current state of banking in the United States.