The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued updated guidance for examiners, financial institutions and technology service providers on the risks and risk-management practices applicable to financial institutions’ retail payment systems activities. The guidance, which is included in the FFIEC Information Technology Examination Handbook, is an update to the “Retail Payment Systems Booklet” (Booklet), which was issued in March 2004.
The revised Booklet provides risk identification and management guidance related to the operational impact of The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2004 (commonly known as the Check 21 Act). It also provides expanded guidance on merchant card processing and automated clearinghouse (ACH) activities, with a more in-depth discussion of the risks posed by these activities and some of the risk-management tools financial institutions can use to mitigate them. There are also brief discussions addressing some of the emerging technologies in retail payment systems, including contactless payment cards, biometrics and proximity payments. The Booklet includes information on remotely created checks and electronically created payment orders, both of which are being used more frequently as payment devices in today’s rapidly evolving payments landscape.
Lastly, the Booklet addresses remote deposit capture activities and provides examination work steps for use in conjunction with the January 14, 2009, FFIEC guidance on “Risk Management of Remote Deposit Capture” (SR letter 09-2).
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The Federal Reserve Banks has completed the reduction in paper check processing infrastructure that was begun in late 2003. With the discontinuation of paper check processing at the Atlanta office on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010, all paper check processing is now handled at the Cleveland office. The Atlanta office serves as the Reserve Banks’ processing location for electronic check processing.
“The movement to a single paper check processing site is recognition of the industry’s success in moving to more efficient electronic solutions for clearing checks,” said Patrick K. Barron, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Retail Payments Office director. “The changes we have implemented to our paper check infrastructure position us well to continue to meet the needs of the nation’s payments system. At the same time, they have been difficult for our organization as we have been required to reduce our staff.”
Since late 2003, the Reserve Banks have reduced the number of locations where paper checks are processed from 45 offices to a single site in Cleveland. These changes were made in response to the significant rate of adoption of Check 21-enabled services as well as the shift away from the use of paper checks and toward the much greater use of electronic payments.
The implementation of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act in October, 2004, significantly reduced the number of check items collected in paper form throughout the industry. At the time Check 21 went into effect, 100 percent of the items processed by the Reserve Banks were in paper form. Today, almost 99 percent are processed as images. As one of the nation’s largest inter-bank processors of electronic check transactions, the Federal Reserve will continue to play an important role in the evolution of the nation’s payments system.
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The Federal Reserve Board launched a new interactive website to help consumers better understand the new credit card protections that will took effect on February 22. These rules ban several harmful practices and require greater transparency in the disclosure of the terms and conditions of credit card accounts.
The site, which can be found at www.federalreserve.gov/creditcard, summarizes the main provisions of the rules and explains how they will affect credit card users. Two interactive features will allow consumers to learn more about the terms and fees of credit card offers and about the new features of their monthly statements.
Information about recent changes in credit card rules forms the core of the site, but basic facts about common credit card options, interest rates, and fees are also provided. Consumers will find a glossary of common credit card terms for quick reference. A list of federal credit protection laws provides a basic guide for those who want to learn more about their rights.
The site also provides information about common credit card problems–such as lost or stolen cards–and links to resources for consumers who are experiencing problems with their accounts.
Some of the material on the site, such as the “5-Tips” publications, is available in Spanish. The Board will continue to build the site during the coming months to include additional credit card information, features, and Spanish translations.
The web address for the Federal Reserve’s guide to credit cards will appear on the solicitations consumers receive from credit card issuers.
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The Federal Reserve Board has approved amendments to Appendix A of Regulation CC that reflect the restructuring of the Federal Reserve Banks’ check-processing operations.
Appendix A provides a routing symbol guide that helps depository institutions determine the maximum permissible hold periods for most deposited checks.
On February 27, 2010, the Reserve Banks will transfer the check-processing operations of the head office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to the head office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. To ensure that the information in Appendix A accurately describes the structure of check-processing operations within the Federal Reserve System, the final rule deletes the reference in Appendix A to the Atlanta head office and reassigns the routing numbers listed thereunder to the Cleveland head office.
To coincide with the effective date of the underlying check processing changes, the amendments are effective February 27, 2010. At that time, there will only be a single check-processing region for purposes of Regulation CC and there will no longer be any checks that are nonlocal.
Funds availability is discussed in-depth in The Gold Book.
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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is providing an educational pamphlet, “Notice to Customers: A CTR Reference Guide,” for financial institutions and their customers containing information on the currency transaction reporting (CTR) requirement. The pamphlet is provided as a resource for financial institutions to help address questions frequently asked by their customers.
For example, the pamphlet explains that large currency transactions are not illegal, and that financial institutions are required to obtain information from their customers when these transactions do occur. The pamphlet does not alter in any way a financial institution’s BSA reporting requirements and explains that if a customer attempts to break up, i.e. “structure,” transactions in order to evade the CTR reporting requirement there are potential civil and criminal consequences. In the pamphlet, FinCEN explains what constitutes structuring and provides examples of structured transactions.
The pamphlet may be found at:
http://www.fincen.gov/whatsnew/pdf/CTRPamphlet.pdf
A Spanish version of the pamphlet may be found at:
http://www.fincen.gov/whatsnew/pdf/espanal_CTRPamphlet.pdf
Information on Currency Transactions Reports is found in the Compliance chapter of The Gold Book.
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Joint federal regulatory agencies have released a final model privacy notice form that will make it easier for consumers to understand how financial institutions collect and share information about consumers. Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act), institutions must notify consumers of their information-sharing practices and inform consumers of their right to opt out of certain sharing practices. The model form can be used by financial institutions to comply with these requirements.
See Model Privacy Notice for details and links to model notices.
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The Federal Reserve Board recently announced the annual indexing of the reserve requirement exemption amount and of the low reserve tranche for 2010. These amounts are used in the calculation of reserve requirements of depository institutions. The Board also announced the annual indexing of the nonexempt deposit cutoff level and the reduced reporting limit that will be used to determine deposit reporting panels effective 2010.
See sub-chapter Reserve Requirements for updated information.
The IRS has updated Form 1099-R and Form 5498 for tax year 2009. While no substantive changes were made to Form 1099-R, Form 5498 has been enlarged and reformatted to provide additional boxes for the collection of Required Minimum Distribution information.
These changes may be found at Form 1099-R Reporting Instructions and Form 5498 Reporting Instructions.
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The New York State legislature made sweeping changes to the Power of Attorney law, which went into effect September 1, 2009. The changes to the law require documents which are much more complex than the short form power of attorney under the old law. One major change, for example, is the use of a Statutory Major Gifts Rider for granting gifts of $500 or more. The new short form also affords principals increased protection by allowing the designation of co-agents as well as a person to monitor the agent. These changes and additional information on the new law can be found at New York Rules.
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Superseding the October 3, 2008 changes to FDIC insurance coverage, the FDIC has extended the temporary increase on deposits held at FDIC-insured institutions through December 31, 2013. On January 1, 2014, the standard insurance amount will return to $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except for IRAs and other certain retirement accounts (including IRAs) which will remain at $250,000 per depositor.
FDIC extended its temporary Transaction Account Guarantee Program through June 30, 2010. This program provides depositors with unlimited coverage for noninterest-bearing transaction accounts at participating FDIC-insured institutions. The unlimited coverage applies to all personal and business checking deposit accounts that do not earn interest (including Demand Deposit (DDA) accounts), low-interest NOW accounts (NOW accounts that cannot earn more than 0.5% interest), Official Items, and IOLTA accounts.
Click here for information about the temporary extensions on these increases.
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