There are a lot of good safety ideas out there: wear a helmet while riding a bike, don’t stand on swivel chairs, wear sunscreen, etc. Many of these are unenforced, common sense rules, but some of them graduate into law. For example, depending on which state you live in, not wearing a seatbelt could have [...]
Based on recent compliance news, regulatory scrutiny regarding discrimination is on the rise, resulting in enforcement action after enforcement action. The CFPB, HUD, and other agencies are taking no prisoners, and while the fines are not always huge, they are seeking to make some examples. For the sake of your institution’s reputation and checkbook (and [...]
As any health-conscious person knows, regular physical exams are the key to identifying potential problems while they are still manageable in order to stay at the top of their game. Similarly, for financial institutions to do the same, a “physical” is needed for every aspect of compliance, especially the regulatory behemoth: the Bank Secrecy Act. Recently, [...]
More and more financial institution processes are getting a technological makeover, and privacy is no exception. Regulation P currently requires financial institutions to provide initial and annual privacy notices to their customers/members by mail. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing to allow an alternate delivery method (like posting it to your website) for the [...]
s_bukley/BigStock.com You remember the scene. Russell Crowe as math student John Nash in the film A Beautiful Mind, is sitting with his buddies in a bar, all contemplating going after the same woman. Suddenly, Nash is struck with his "governing dynamics" theorem—that perhaps, instead of the increased competition resulting in "blocking" and nobody [...]
As anyone who has lived since the invention of the Atari knows, technology is changing at a rapid pace. Because of this, financial institutions have been thrust into the race to update their technology. Winning this race is crucial to maintaining and increasing customer size and satisfaction. This is especially true of interbank collection and [...]
For anyone who has attempted to make a complicated recipe, you know that even the best-laid plans can go awry. This sounds a lot like regulatory compliance—financial institutions have all the rules laid out in front of them, but extenuating circumstances, accidents, or outright violations happen (when baking, you have to take into account your altitude [...]
The frontier of cybersecurity has been relatively ungoverned territory. But with so many data breaches occurring in the recent past, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has stepped forward to in an attempt to bring some order to this lawless land. NIST has released a document titled “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.” [...]
Effective Date: January 10, 2014 With all the new regulations effective as of January 10, it’s easy to feel a little lost. From periodic statements to loss mitigation procedures, it seems almost no regulation has been spared alteration. The very survival of your institution may rely on your ability to guide it through the complex [...]
Effective Date: December 11, 2013 If there’s one thing financial institutions can’t avoid anymore, it’s social media. Whether you’ve hopped on the bandwagon already or you’re hoping it will pass you by unnoticed, the FFIEC recommends the following guidance for considering the effect social media could have on your institution, for better or worse. Overview [...]
