President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ("E.O.") authorizing the imposition of sanctions on persons, entities and their associates who partake in "corruption, human rights abuses, and undermining democracy in Nicaragua." The new sanctions authorizations arise from Nicaragua's violent response to protests that began on April 18, 2018, and the Nicaraguan government's "dismantling. . . [of] the rule of law, its use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians, as well as its corruption leading to the destabilization of Nicaragua's economy." Pursuant to the E.O

The FDIC will eliminate unnecessary and duplicative text in the Code of Federal Regulations to make it easier for readers to find the current, inflation-adjusted maximum civil money penalty ("CMP") amounts. The final rule is effective on January 15, 2019. The final rule will: remove duplicative, descriptive regulatory language with regard to CMP amounts that repeats existing statutory language related to such CMPs; codify Congress's recent modifications to CMP inflation adjustments in the FDIC's regulations; and bring readers to an annually released notice in the Federal Register for

On September 30, 2018, the Deposit Insurance Fund Reserve Ratio reached 1.36 percent, exceeding the minimum reserve ratio of 1.35 percent ahead of the September 2020 deadline mandated by Dodd-Frank. In a Financial Institution Letter, the FDIC stated that surpassing the minimum reserve ratio will have the following effects: "surcharges on insured depository institutions with consolidated assets totaling $10 billion or more will cease;" and "small banks will receive assessment credits for their assessments that contributed to the growth in the reserve ratio between 1.15 percent and 1.35 percent

The Federal Reserve Bank ("FRB") of New York Executive Vice President Richard Dzina discussed the current state of cyber resilience and operational security and stability and highlighted several questions intended to "advance the industry discourse and to consider measures to meet the present challenge."

A global technology and defense firm, on behalf of its former subsidiary, agreed to settle three violations of the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations. According to the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), Aeroflex/Metelics, Inc. ("Metelics"), a former subsidiary of Cobham Holdings, Inc. ("Cobham"), sold "components to be incorporated into commercial air traffic control radar" through distributors in Canada and Russia to an individual whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13661. OFAC stated that Cobham voluntarily disclosed the