On January 12, South Dakota’s Division of Banking issued a mandate setting March 31, 2024 as the deadline for all South Dakota licensed money lenders and non-residential mortgage brokers to comply with their Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) requirements under a 2020 Final Rule published by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). FinCEN’s 2020 Final Rule notably closed a regulatory loophole, extending BSA/AML requirements to banks that lack a federal functional regulator. A “federal functional regulator” is any one of the following: Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, NCUA, OCC, OTS, SEC, or CFTC. There are over 550 banks that currently lack a federal functional regulator, consisting of state-chartered, non-depository trust companies, non-federally insured credit unions, and some international banking entities.Continue Reading South Dakota Lenders on Tight Deadline for BSA/AML Compliance

In April, we continued to see a steady pace in the seriousness and frequency of crypto enforcement actions by state and federal law enforcement.  (See our March 2022 Crypto Enforcement Actions Roundup blog here where we discuss the regulatory guidance and jurisdiction of federal and state agencies to enforce these matters.)
Continue Reading April 2022 Crypto Enforcement Actions And Regulatory Guidance Roundup

On March 17, the OCC and FinCEN issued civil monetary penalties against a federal savings bank for “willfully” failing to meet minimum compliance program requirements and shoddy suspicious transaction reporting. The consent orders read like a veritable “how not to” for reviewing anti-money laundering alerts.
Continue Reading OCC and FinCEN Issue $200 Million in Penalties for BSA-AML Violations

On December 16, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued civil monetary penalties against a Texas community bank for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”).  The consent orders read like a veritable “how not to” for reviewing anti-money laundering alerts.
Continue Reading OCC and FinCEN Issue $9 Million in Penalties for BSA-AML Violations