FDIC Terminates AML Consent Orders Against Two Banks

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. terminated consent orders against New York-based Israel Discount Bank of New York and Georgia-based F&M Bank and Trust Company .

These administrative enforcement actions were among eight such orders issued in October and announced by the FDIC in a Friday (Nov. 28) press release .

The consent order against Israel Discount Bank of New York , which is based in New York, New York, was issued in May 2023 and involved alleged deficiencies and weaknesses in its Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism Program (AML/CFT Program). The bank consented to the issuance of the order without admitting or denying the charges.

Under the consent order, the bank was required to increase its oversight and monitoring of its AML/CFT program, ensure that its written program assures and monitors compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act , and adopt independent testing of the program’s adequacy and the bank’s compliance.

The order terminating this consent order is dated Oct. 10.

The consent order against F&M Bank and Trust Company , which is based in Manchester, Georgia, was issued in February 2011 and involved alleged unsafe or unsound banking practices or violations of law or regulation relating to weaknesses in asset quality, management, earnings, capital, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk. The bank consented to the issuance of the order without admitting or denying the charges.

Under the consent order, the bank was required to have its board increase its participation in the affairs of the bank, retain qualified management, maintain specified percentages of Tier 1 Capital and Total Risk-Based Capital, and eliminate from its books specified percentages of assets classified “loss” or “doubtful.”

The order terminating this consent order is dated Oct. 29.

In another order issued in October, the FDIC terminated a September 2014 order that denied an unnamed bank’s application for the waiver of the insured depository institution filing requirement. The regulator said that the Fair Hiring in Banking Act , which became effective in December 2022, eliminated the basis for the earlier order.

Other orders issued in October applied to individuals. The orders of prohibition from further participation were issued against bank employees whose alleged violations included misrepresenting information in their application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act; making misrepresentations in their application for a Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Recovery loan; misappropriating funds from customers’ bank accounts; and cashing fraudulent checks. In each case, the individual neither admitted nor denied the allegations.