Fraud threats have changed little in the past decade. But their global scale has, and James Ratley, president of the ACFE, details how fraud examiners must change their approach to fighting these crimes in 2012.
Some Institutions Still Confused About Regulators' ExpectationsAs 2012 nears and federal regulators prepare to examine financial institutions for conformance with the FFIEC Authentication Guidance, just how prepared are banks and credit unions? The answer may surprise you.
The National Credit Union Administration liquidated Birmingham Financial Federal Credit Union [BFFCU] of Birmingham, Ala. �-CO Credit Union of Birmingham, Ala. immediately assumed BFFCU's members, assets, loans and debt.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that Michael Sullivan has been appointed Deputy Comptroller for Risk Analysis effective Dec. 18, 2011.
Western National Bank, Phoenix, Ariz., was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Washington Federal, Seattle, Wash., to assume all of the deposits of Western National Bank.
Premier Community Bank of the Emerald Coast, Crestview, Fla., was closed by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Summit Bank, National Association, Panama City, Fla., to assume all of the deposits of Premier Community Bank of the Emerald Coast.
Fraudster Linked to Conspiracy, Faces up to 30 YearsThe potential 30-year prison term and $1 million fine are significant, but so is the actual plea agreement - which may signal a new tactic in law enforcement officials' efforts to break up fraud rings.
A new survey finds that 56% of U.S. banking institutions have conducted risk assessments, but 87% have deployed layered security controls. Are banks ready to conform with the FFIEC Authentication Guidance?
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of victims of the 2007 Hannaford data breach. Attorney Ronald Raether explains the ruling and what it potentially means to future breached entities and their customers.
Testing is Best Metric of Team's ReadinessHaving a breach response team in place at your organization is a necessity in today's threat environment. But how - before a breach occurs - do you know if your team is truly effective?
One more quick poll: off the top of your head, what lingo/cryptic terms do business bankruptcy professionals use regularly that are important to understanding the operation of the system in the real world (e.g., DIPs, cramdown, roll-ups, carve-out, stalking horse)?...
Just before the country stopped to celebrate Christmas, the UK Treasury announced that the government plans to ban the ‘excessive’ fees for card payments before the end of 2012. Essentially, this is the ban for card surcharging, i.e. fees that get added to the transaction if the person chooses to pay by card.
Unfortunately, in Europe surcharging is quite widespread. When [...]
Michael Olenick, Gretchen Morgenson, and Yves Smith have all written pretty damning things about the foreclosure reviews persuant to the OCC consent orders with major mortgage servicers. (For my own previous thoughts, see here and here.) I've just started to...
On December 7, 2011, President Obama signed the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, H.R. 394, P.L. 112-63. The bill does not amend 28 U.S.C. 1408, the primary venue provision for bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Nonetheless,...
According to this new report. As Mirya Holman and I have explained in the bankruptcy context, measuring medical bill problems and debt is notoriously contested, but the Center for Studying Health System Change does try to make clear its methods...
Who knew that Mitt Romney had outflanked Obama on the left? Well, it took Nixon to go to China, but I expect we'll see a lot of backpedaling here. It's a bit troublesome, though, that a Harvard Law grad like...
So. Now we know. February 1st 2014 has been negotiated as the deadline for the end of domestic, legacy payment schemes in euro countries. It’s sometimes erroneously referred to as the SEPA end date, but in reality it’s the start date. The end referred to is the end of the migration to SEPA.
So where [...]
Christmas is the time of giving, and so the gift cards are definitely ”in season.” Gift cards come in all shapes and forms - from a single retailer and the shopping malls, in various denominations, single-use and reloadable, as a plastic card or as an e-voucher, etc. They are clearly convenient for the person who gives (easier to decide than the [...]
As Alan White reported recently, the Uniform Law Commission in the U.S. has named a committee to consider the need for and feasibility of proposing a uniform foreclosure act and to report back to the ULC by early 2012. A...
There have been many discussions about the link between GDP and the use of electronic payments. I recently spoke at the Future of Cash conference in Frankfurt, and created some charts to show actually that cash is still the dominant payment type, at least by volume. I’ve extracted part of that chart below. It [...]
We’ve all witnessed how difficult it has become for retail banking to dig itself out of its retrospectively misplaced devotion to free checking. The recent brouhaha over several banks’ attempt to recover lost debit card interchange through monthly fees gives testimony to just how challenging this new climate has become. After a decade of training [...]