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National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
NCUA Board Approves Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Records Retention
The NCUA Board approved an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to solicit comments on ways the NCUA can improve and update its records preservation regulations and accompanying guidelines in Part 749. Part 749 requires all federally insured credit unions to maintain a records preservation program to identify, store, and reconstruct vital records in the event that a credit union’s records are destroyed.
The Board is seeking comment on whether there is a need to update Part 749, and if so, what should be updated and how, to ensure that credit unions properly preserve records vital to their business operations and the NCUA’s supervisory needs.
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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD Releases Final Rule Revisions Governing Floodplain Management and the Protection of Wetlands
The HUD released final rule revisions to its regulations governing floodplain management and the protection of wetlands to implement the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS).
Among other revisions, this rule:
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Provides a process for determining the extent of the FFRMS floodplain, with a preference for a climate-informed science approach (CISA) to making this determination;
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Revises HUD's floodplain and wetland regulations to streamline, improve overall clarity, and modernize standards;
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Revises HUD's Minimum Property Standards for one-to-four-unit housing under HUD's mortgage insurance and low-rent public housing programs to require that the lowest floor in newly constructed structures located within the 1-percent-annual-chance (100-year) floodplain be built at least 2 feet above the base flood elevation (BFE) as determined by best available information; and
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Revises a categorical exclusion when HUD performs environmental reviews and updates various HUD environmental regulations to permit online posting of public notices.
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
FinCEN Issues Analysis on Elder Financial Exploitation
FinCEN issued a Financial Trend Analysis focusing on patterns and trends identified in BSA data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE). FinCEN examined BSA reports filed between June 15, 2022 and June 15, 2023 that either used the key term referenced in FinCEN’s June 2022 EFE Advisory or checked “Elder Financial Exploitation” as a suspicious activity type. This amounted to 155,415 filings over this period indicating roughly $27 billion in EFE-related suspicious activity.
EFE typically consists of two subcategories: elder scams and elder theft. Elder scams, identified in approximately 80% of the EFE BSA reports that FinCEN analyzed, involve the transfer of money to a stranger or imposter for a promised benefit that the older adult does not receive. In elder theft, identified in approximately 20% of the reports, an otherwise trusted person steals an older adult’s assets, funds, or income. Among other conclusions, FinCEN’s analysis revealed that most elder scam-related BSA filings referenced “account takeover” by a perpetrator unknown to the victim; that adult children were the most frequent elder theft-related perpetrators; and that illicit actors mostly relied on unsophisticated means to steal funds that minimize direct contact with financial institution employees.
FinCEN Reminds Financial Institutions to Remain Vigilant to Environmental Crimes
FinCEN reminds financial institutions to remain vigilant in identifying and reporting suspicious activity related to environmental crimes. Environmental crimes frequently involve transnational criminal activity related to several of FinCEN’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Priorities, including corruption, fraud, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.
FinCEN has previously published resources to help stakeholders identify and combat environmental crimes and associated illicit financial activity. FinCEN’s December 2021 Financial Threat Analysis contains information on wildlife trafficking threat patterns and trend information identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data.
FinCEN’s Notice FIN-2021-NTC4 provides financial institutions with specific Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing instructions and highlights illicit financial activity related to several types of environmental crimes such as wildlife trafficking and illegal logging, fishing, or mining. SAR filings, along with effective implementation of BSA compliance requirements, are crucial to identifying and stopping environmental crimes and related money laundering.
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