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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The move away from a one-size-fits-all regulatory framework based on asset size continues.

On October 31, the Federal Reserve proposed a rule to implement Section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, tailoring enhanced prudential standards for firms with $100 billion or more in total consolidated…
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Davis Polk has submitted a comment letter on the FDIC’s Request for Information on FDIC Communication and Transparency.   Our comment letter concentrates on ways in which we believe that the FDIC could improve its website, with a particular focus on how the FDIC’s efforts could educate users and ameliorate…
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The future of resolution planning for U.S. global systemically important banking organizations (G-SIBs) has started to come into focus.  The FDIC and the Federal Reserve have recently laid out an ambitious agenda designed to put in place Resolution Planning 2.0.  This slide sets forth our collection of the…
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On November 19, 2018, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) seeking public comment on “criteria for identifying emerging technologies that are essential to U.S. national security.”[1]  The ANPRM was issued pursuant to the Export Control Reform…
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