Company: ASB
Filing Date: 2025-02-12
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000007789-25-000013
Chunk: 151

Company: ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 151
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, FinCEN issued guidance clarifying how financial institutions can provide services to marijuana-related businesses consistent with their BSA obligations, including SAR filings. That guidance remains in effect.

On June 28, 2024, FinCEN issued a proposed rule to strengthen and modernize financial institutions’ AML/CFT programs. Key requirements of the proposed rule include (1) conducting periodic risk assessments to measure AML/CFT risks; (2) designating a qualified AML/CFT officer; and (3) periodic testing of the AML/CFT program by an independent internal or external party. The proposed rule would also require that a financial institution’s AML/CFT program be established, maintained and enforced 

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by persons in the United States who are accessible to, and subject to oversight and supervision by, the secretary of the Treasury and the appropriate federal functional regulator.

Interstate Branching

Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, national and state-chartered banks may open an initial branch in a state other than its home state (e.g., a host state) by establishing a de novo branch at any location in such host state at which a bank chartered in such host state could establish a branch. Applications to establish such branches must still be filed with the appropriate primary federal regulator.

Volcker Rule

The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits IDIs and their holding companies from engaging in proprietary trading except in limited circumstances, and prohibits them from owning equity interests in excess of three percent of Tier 1 Capital in private equity and hedge funds (known as the “Volcker Rule”). Five U.S. financial regulators with jurisdiction over the Volcker Rule, including the Federal Reserve and the OCC, have adopted implementing regulations. Those regulations prohibit banking entities from (1) engaging in short-term proprietary trading for their own accounts, and (2) having certain ownership interests in and relationships with hedge funds or private equity funds, which are referred to as “covered funds.” The regulations also require each regulated entity to establish an internal compliance program that is consistent with the extent to which it engages in activities covered by the Volcker Rule. The Volcker Rule was subsequently revised to simplify and streamline compliance requirements for firms that do not have significant trading activities and enhance requirements for firms that do. Under the current framework, compliance requirements are based on the amount of assets and liabilities that a bank trades. Firms with significant trading activities (i.e., those with $20 billion or more in trading assets and liabilities) have heightened compliance obligations. Although we benefit from significantly