Compliance Blog

Posted by Anthony Demangone 

March Madness is upon us.  Both of "my schools" (Penn State and George Mason) are in the dance.  Sarah's schools (Ohio State, Bucknell and George Mason) are dancing.  (Yes, one can have three schools.  One is by birth, one is by college, and one can be by a graduate degree - but only if that team is good at basketball.) Steve is happy, as the Wolverines are in the dance as well.  But don't mention the tournament to my colleague, Carrie.  Maryland didn't even make the NIT, so the whole thing is a sensitive subject.  By all means, don't bring it up - especially in public settings. 

Now, on to our own form of year-round-madness - compliance.

FinCEN.  The agency has issued a $25,000 fine against an unregistered money transmitter.  That caught my attention, because FinCEN issued a similar fine against another unregistered money transmitter not that long ago.  Bully for them! I think a lion's share of financial shenanigans happen at institutions that are not highly regulated depository institutions.  Regulators have limited budgets, so the more that they can do to enforce the rules on folks who may think that are "untouchable," the better.  I think that's where FinCEN and other regulators (like the CFPB) can go a long way in helping consumers.

CFPB. Here's a short interview with Elizabeth Warren via Yahoo Finance.  She talks about the dangers of concentration within the banking sector and compensation issues. 

"There's no one in Congress who's talking about the salary structure for the largest financial institutions but there are people in Congress who are talking about ‘let's beat back the consumer agency and cut it's funding in half," she notes. "So I think we see where the battle lines are drawn. And given the crisis we just went through, I'm genuinely shocked that's the place where we're fighting."

It is worth a listen - the interview is short.  And it will give you another glimpse into how Ms. Warren views things.  I'm not sure how the CFPB could get into issues such as "executive compensation" or "too big to fail," but I'd never say never.  In any event, as one sage observer pointed out to me, she certainly is voicing her support for any regulator who would tackle the compensation issue. 

NCUA Town Hall Meeting.  The recent event is now available in an archived version.