Compliance Blog

Posted by Anthony Demangone

Here are some items of interest...

• NCUA has released its agenda for this Thursday's NCUA Board meeting.  The agenda isn't Earth-shattering in terms of compliance.
• Treasury has named Holly Petraeus to head the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the CFPB. I expect that the creation of this office will shine a bit more light on military compliance issues, such as the SCRA.  Regarding Ms. Petraeus, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who understands more about military life.  This comes from the Treasury announcement.

Petraeus knows firsthand from her own personal experience as well the strains facing America’s troops and their families. She is the daughter of Army Gen. William A. Knowlton, a previous superintendent of West Point. Her son, brother, grandfather, and great-grandfather all served in our armed forces. Petraeus, a military spouse for more than 35 years, is also the wife of Army Gen. David Petraeus, current Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and former Commander of the U.S. Central Command.

• FinCEN pushed a lot of paper recently.  First, they released their semi-annual SAR Activity Review - By the Numbers.   This document gives you a TON of statistical data on SAR filings.  If you do BSA training, these statistics can be used to create fancy, colorful charts.  People seem to like those.  FinCEN also released an updated Mortgage Loan Fraud Update.   It looks like SAR filings related to mortgage fraud continue to increase.
• The IRS is looking to increase reporting requirements.  They issued this proposal which would require financial institutions to report interest/dividend payments to nonresident aliens of any foreign country. 
• The NMLS (the SAFE Act Registry) has announced a number of  internet-based workshops to introduce institutions to the registry.  The workshops are not designed for individual mortgage loan originators.  It looks like the workshops cost $50.
• It has begun.  Congressman Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) introduced her first bill for this Congress.  The bill would repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.