Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Agencies Propose Transition of New Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) Accounting Standard into Regulatory Capital Framework

Federal Banking Agencies proposed a revision to their regulatory capital rules to provide an option to phase in the “Current Expected Credit Losses,” (CECL) methodology.

The proposal would allow banking organization to have the day-one regulatory capital effects of the CECL adoption over three years. It would revise the agencies’ rules to account for the differences between the new accounting standard and the existing U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

 

Other Regulatory Bodies

FTC Launches Campaign to Help Small Businesses Strengthen their Cyber Defenses

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launches a national education campaign to help small businesses protect their sensitive data from cyber threats.

The FTC will be distributing educational materials about cybersecurity geared towards small businesses. The initiative stems from the Small Business & Cybersecurity Roundtables that the FTC hosted last year.

The material will be focused on teaching cybersecurity basics to small business owners, so they can identify and avoid phishing schemes, ransomware attacks, and tech support scams.

The FTC is also addressing owners’ concerns on company mobile devices and vendors’ system security.  

The FTC will be producing a website, dozens of training modules and videos to help strengthen small businesses’ cybersecurity.

 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

CFPB Finalizes Amendment to "Know Before You Owe" Mortgage Disclosure Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized an amendment to its “Know Before You Owe” mortgage disclosure rule.

They intend for the update to provide greater clarity and certainty to the mortgage industry. Under the rule mortgage lenders, with a valid justification, may pass on increases in closing costs to consumers and disclose them on a “Closing Disclosure.”

 

 

U.S Department of Justice

Former Procurement Officer at Federally Funded Nuclear Research and Development Facility Sentenced to Prison for Wire Fraud and Money Laundering

A former procurement officer of the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding the U.S. government of $2.3 million in federal funds and laundering it through her father’s company.

Carla Sena, 56, of Santa Rosa, New Mexico, used her position at the SNL, a nuclear research and development facility of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to hide her illicit actions.

Sena was assigned to manage the bidding process for a multi-million-dollar contract for moving services at SNL. Then, she created an LLC called Express Movers LLC, and under an acquaintance’s name submitted a bid for the contract.

After making multiple fraudulent misrepresentations in the bid, she used her position at SNL to bury them. As a result of her fraudulent actions, Express Movers LLC was awarded the $2.3 million contract. Sena transferred roughly $643,000 of the awarded funds to legitimate businesses owned by her father to hide her use of the proceeds for personal gain.