FinCEN Issues Human Smuggling Alert

Human Smuggling Alert - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to better support financial institutions in detecting financial activity related to human smuggling along the southwest border of the United States. The alert builds upon FinCEN’s 2020 and 2014 human smuggling and human trafficking advisories, while providing information specifically related to human smuggling occurring along the southwest border of the United States. It also provides red flag indicators to help financial institutions better identify transactions potentially related to such activity and reminds financial institutions of their Bank Secrecy Act reporting obligations.  

OCC Revises Fair Lending Booklet

OCC Bulletin 2023-2 – The OCC released a revised version of its Fair Lending booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. The revised booklet provides information and examination procedures to assist OCC examiners in assessing fair lending risk and evaluating compliance with the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and Regulation B, the consumer protection regulation that implements the ECOA. The revised booklet: reflects changes to laws and regulations since the booklet was last published; reflects the current OCC approach to fair lending examinations; includes new and clarified details on examination scenarios; and includes clarified and expanded risk factors for a variety of examination types.

CFPB Proposes Nonbank Registration

Nonbank Registration of Certain Contract Terms and Conditions - The CFPB proposed a rule to establish a public registry of supervised nonbanks’ terms and conditions in “take it or leave it” form contracts that claim to waive or limit consumer rights and protections, like bankruptcy rights, liability amounts, or complaint rights. In some cases, terms and conditions in non-negotiable form contracts mislead consumers into believing the terms or conditions are legally enforceable. Under the proposed rule, nonbanks subject to the CFPB’s supervisory jurisdiction would need to submit information on terms and conditions in form contracts they use that seek to waive or limit individuals’ rights and other legal protections. That information would be posted in a registry that will be open to the public, including to other consumer financial protection enforcers.