Regulatory & Enforcement

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Key Takeaway

On September 2, 2026, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, OCC, and FinCEN confirmed that a bank may tell a customer that an account restriction or closure, or a rejected deposit, may be related to suspected fraud or other suspicious activity, so long as the communication does not reveal that a SAR was or will be filed.

What Happened

On September 2, 2026, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the NCUA, the OCC, and FinCEN issued a joint statement on the application of SAR confidentiality to banks’ communications with their customers (Joint Statement). The Bank Secrecy Act prohibits a bank from disclosing a suspicious activity report or any information that would reveal that one exists, and in particular from notifying any person involved in a transaction that the transaction has been reported. In practice, those prohibitions have led many banks to say nothing at all when a payment is held, a deposit is rejected, or an account is closed and the customer asks why. The Joint Statement confirms that the SAR confidentiality prohibitions are narrower than that practice: the regulators confirmed that a bank may communicate with a customer about potentially fraudulent transactions, other suspicious activity, or account closures, provided the communication does not reveal the existence of a SAR. The Joint Statement responds to comments on the agencies’ payments fraud initiative and invokes Executive Order 14331 on fair banking.

Continue Reading You Can Say More Than You Think: Regulators Clarify SAR Confidentiality for Customer Communications

On August 27, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly issued a final rule that, for the first time, gives the term “unsafe or unsound practice” a binding regulatory definition.1 With it came a uniform standard for Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) and revised OCC examination manuals.2 The Federal Reserve did not join the rulemaking, but has adopted comparable standards through guidance. What that means for holding companies and state-chartered institutions is addressed below.3 The regulation takes effect November 2, 2026, and the revised OCC examination manuals took effect upon their issuance on August 27.

For boards, general counsel, and risk and compliance leaders, the headlines suggest clarity and potential relief. However, while the rule changes what federal bank examiners may require to bring enforcement, it does not change the standards of prudent risk management a bank is held to, the discretion examiners keep over ratings, or the exposure that sits with state supervisors, the holding company, and individual officers and directors. This client alert explains what changed and how to consider responding.

Continue Reading OCC and FDIC Redefine “Unsafe or Unsound Practices”: The New Supervisory Framework for Banks

Cristina Diaz was recently featured in an in-depth Corporate Counsel Q&A that covers her return to private practice after more than a decade in-house at UBS.

In the interview, Cristina discusses what her years in-house taught her about turning regulatory requirements into practical business solutions, why she returned to private practice, and how she approaches…

Key Takeaway: Domestic reporting companies—meaning entities formed under the laws of any U.S. state or Tribal jurisdiction—have no beneficial ownership information reporting obligations to FinCEN under the final rule.

What happened: On August 14, 2026, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a final rule revising its previous rules implementing the Beneficial Ownership Information (“BOI”) reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). The final rule is effective immediately. The final rule makes permanent, and modestly expands, the relief first introduced by FinCEN in its March 26, 2025 interim final rule, which exempted domestic reporting companies (i.e., U.S.-formed entities) from any obligation to report BOI to FinCEN, and exempted foreign reporting companies from any obligation to report BOI with respect to U.S.-person beneficial owners. FinCEN also has said that it will delete the identifying information that companies reported to it about U.S.-person beneficial owners and company applicants, as well as persons who requested a “FinCEN ID” to aid BOI filings. In addition to the rule itself, FinCEN issued related FAQs. FinCEN cited issues of privacy, burden, and the ability to obtain information on the beneficial owners of U.S. companies as reasons for the final rule.

Continue Reading FinCEN Finalizes BOI Reporting Rule: What U.S. Companies Need to Know

What You Need to Know

Key takeaway #1: On August 13, 2026, FinCEN issued a Financial Trend Analysis showing 67,540 Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reports filed between 2023 and 2025 involved more than $4.9 billion in reported suspicious activity potentially related to human smuggling.

Key takeaway #2: Money services businesses (MSBs) filed approximately 97% of the reports, while depository institutions filed approximately only 3% but accounted for nearly 61% of the total reported suspicious activity.

Key takeaway #3: Financial institutions should consider whether the red flags and typologies highlighted in the FTA are appropriately incorporated into their automated transaction-monitoring scenarios for detecting potentially suspicious human smuggling-related activity.

Continue Reading Following the Money: FinCEN Maps the Financial Footprint of Human Smuggling

What You Need to Know

Key takeaway #1: Bank regulators have shifted from prior approval to examination scrutiny. Banks no longer need supervisory nonobjection to lend against crypto collateral. Regulators are likely to focus their examinations on collateral operations, BSA/AML and sanctions compliance, and third-party risk management.

Key takeaway #2: Control-based perfection trumps filing, with a June 3, 2027, New York deadline to re-perfect existing security interests. Under the 2022 UCC amendments, a security interest in controllable electronic records perfected by control as of June 3, 2027, will have priority over a filing-only perfection, regardless of timing. Lenders relying on filing alone should consider taking steps to comply with UCC Article 12’s control arrangements before the adjustment date.

Key takeaway #3: Custody terms determine ownership in insolvency. Documents that permit a custodian or platform to use or rehypothecate pledged assets may impair the secured nature of a claim, leaving the lender with an unsecured one. Parties should confirm segregation, retained borrower title, and a prohibition on rehypothecation in custody documentation.

Key takeaway #4: Bankruptcy safe harbors may not apply; margin mechanics are the practical protection. Because spot crypto lending may fall outside the Bankruptcy Code’s safe harbors, conservative advance rates and market-based loan-to-value triggers are the principal protections.

Key takeaway #5: No capital recognition for digital asset collateral, and state licensing may apply. Digital asset collateral currently earns no credit risk mitigation relief under U.S. capital rules, and nonbank lenders may face state licensing obligations.

Continue Reading Lending Against Digital Assets: Five Key Takeaways for Lenders After a Year of Regulatory and UCC Change

Crowell & Moring has added Cristina Diaz, former executive director and general counsel of UBS Bank USA, and most recently head of legal for UBS’s U.S. Remediation Management Office, to the firm’s Financial Services Group as senior counsel in New York. Diaz brings more than two decades of in-house counsel and law firm experience in bank regulation, compliance, and risk management.

Continue Reading Crowell & Moring Expands Financial Services Group with Former UBS Bank USA General Counsel Cristina Diaz

The Board of Directors of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) has issued Decision No. 3 of 2026, introducing the Instructions for the International License to Practice Certain Activities in International Financial Markets (the Instructions).

The Instructions create a regulatory framework under which QFMA-licensed financial services firms may, with prior QFMA approval, conduct specified activities in international financial markets. The new regime forms part of Qatar’s broader effort to develop its capital markets and expand access to international investment opportunities while maintaining regulatory oversight and investor protection.

Continue Reading QFMA Introduces International Licensing Regime for Financial Services Firms

For many asset-based lenders (“ABLs”) that do not take deposits, CRD VI’s branch requirements will not apply directly — but reliance on the non-bank carve-out requires careful, structure-specific analysis, and does not eliminate all regulatory risk.

General

CRD VI (Directive 2024/1619) introduces an EU-wide framework governing how non-EU undertakings may provide core banking services to EU borrowers. Article 21c requires third-country undertakings providing core banking services (including lending) within a Member State to establish a branch authorised under the Directive (a “third-country branch”). CRD VI applies primarily to “credit institutions” as defined under the Capital Requirements Regulation (“CRR”). The regime sits alongside existing national licensing frameworks. It should also be noted that CRD VI introduces other obligations (including ESG risk management and governance requirements) beyond the scope of this note.

Continue Reading CRD VI: New Rules for Cross-Border Lending into Europe — Why the Non-Bank Carve-Out Matters, but Is Not the Full Story

On June 4, 2026, Crowell partners Caroline Brown and Anand Sithian hosted the ACSS New York Chapter at the firm’s New York office for a panel discussion titled “Renewed Focus on Cartels, Transnational Criminal Organizations, and Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Compliance Challenges for Financial Institutions and Multinationals.” The sold-out event brought together practitioners from the financial crime compliance community for a timely and substantive conversation at the intersection of sanctions, narcotics trafficking, and AML risk.

Continue Reading Crowell Hosts ACSS New York Chapter Event on Cartels, Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Financial Crime Compliance