Cannabis legislation for banking is now getting more serious attention, as it should. On Wednesday, February 13, the Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services will convene a hearing entitled, “Challenges and Solutions:  Access to Banking Services for Cannabis-Related Businesses.” The hearing follows Chairwoman…
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The Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC (the Banking Agencies) recently published a proposal to increase the thresholds associated with the “major assets” prohibition governing management official interlocks contained in the Depository Institutions Management Interlocks Act (DIMIA)[1] and implemented by Regulation L.  DIMIA permits the Banking Agencies to raise the…
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On January 28, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctioned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (“PdVSA”), Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, pursuant to Executive Order (“E.O.”) 13850 for operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy, following a determination by the Secretary…
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The Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC (the Agencies) have each released proposed amendments to their respective stress testing rules for national banks, savings associations, state member banks and state non-member banks (collectively, IDIs) that would implement Section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2018…
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As 2018 came to a close, U.S. financial regulators continued to pursue anti-money laundering (“AML”) enforcement actions against financial institutions, announcing monetary penalties against and resolutions with three U.S. broker-dealers.  The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the…
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The Federal Reserve and FDIC (the Agencies) provided feedback on the U.S. resolution plans filed in July 2018 by four Foreign Banking Organizations – finding shortcomings in each, but acknowledging the need for more coordination among U.S. and home country regulators.  Unredacted copies of the letters sent on December…
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On December 19, 2018, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced its plan to lift sanctions on three Russian entities for agreeing to distance their businesses from a prominent oligarch.  Specifically, OFAC informed Congress of its intention to terminate sanctions on entities previously designated for…
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In the decade leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, de novo bank charters averaged more than 100 per year.[1] This robust flow of new bank charters continued a trend since the 1960s and before.[2] It partially offset a decline in the number of banks in the United…
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On December 3, 2018, a U.S. government working group aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSA/AML regime issued a second joint statement, which focuses on innovative industry approaches to BSA/AML compliance.  This follows the working group’s first joint statement last month, which focused on BSA/AML resource sharing…
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