June 21, 2004 News Archive

List of Top Banking Risks
The top banking risks from Supervision and Regulation's March 2004 Risk Committee meeting are now available.

SR 04-9: Revised Uniform Agreement on the Classification of Assets and Appraisal of Securities Held by Banks and Thrifts
In a joint decision, the federal financial industry regulators revised the Uniform Agreement on the Classification of Assets and Appraisal of Securities Held by Banks and Thrifts (the Uniform Agreement). The Uniform Agreement sets forth procedures for classifying bank assets as substandard, doubtful, or loss. The classification of loans in the Uniform Agreement is not changed by the revised Uniform Agreement at this time, though changes are anticipated in the future, due to the implications of Basel II.

SR 04-10: Banking Accounts for Foreign Governments, Embassies, and Political Figures
The federal financial industry regulators, in conjunction with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently issued an interagency advisory to provide general guidance to banking organizations regarding the treatment of accounts to foreign governments, foreign embassies, and foreign political figures.

The guidance informs banking organizations that

• the decision to accept or reject an embassy or foreign government account is the banking organization's alone to make
• there are varying degrees of risk associated with such accounts, depending on the customer and the nature of the services provided, which calls for the financial institution to take appropriate steps to manage such risks
• questions about embassy banking should be directed to their primary federal bank regulators