12 U.S.C. § 3305: Functions of Council

The Council shall establish uniform principles and standards and report forms for the examination of financial institutions which shall be applied by the Federal financial institutions regulatory agencies. The Council shall make recommendations for uniformity in other supervisory matters, such as, but not limited to, classifying loans subject to country risk, identifying financial institutions in need of special supervisory attention, and evaluating the soundness of large loans that are shared by two or more financial institutions. In addition, the Council shall make recommendations regarding the adequacy of supervisory tools for determining the impact of holding company operations on the financial institutions within the holding company and shall consider the ability of supervisory agencies to discover possible fraud or questionable and illegal payments and practices which might occur in the operation of financial institutions or their holding companies. When a recommendation of the Council is found unacceptable by one or more of the applicable Federal financial institutions regulatory agencies, the agency or agencies shall submit to the Council, within a time period specified by the Council, a written statement of the reasons the recommendation is unacceptable. The Council shall develop uniform reporting systems for federally supervised financial institutions, their holding companies, and nonfinancial institution subsidiaries of such institutions or holding companies. The authority to develop uniform reporting systems shall not restrict or amend the requirements of section 78 l (i) of title 15. The Council shall conduct schools for examiners and assistant examiners employed by the Federal financial institutions regulatory agencies. Such schools shall be open to enrollment by employees of State financial institutions supervisory agencies and employees of the Federal Housing Finance Board under conditions specified by the Council. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or discourage Federal regulatory agency research and development of new financial institutions supervisory methods and tools, nor to preclude the field testing of any innovation devised by any Federal regulatory agency. Not later than April 1 of each year, the Council shall prepare an annual report covering its activities during the preceding year. The Council shall consult with and assist the Federal entities for lending regulation, as such term is defined in section 4121(a) of title 42 , in developing and coordinating uniform standards and requirements for use by regulated lending institutions under the national flood insurance program. updated to reflect the rulemaking required by subsection ( o ) section 5318 of title 31 , United States Code, as added by subsection (a) of this section; and consistent with relevant FinCEN [Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury] and Federal functional regulator guidance, including the December 2018 Joint Statement on Innovative Efforts to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.” review and enhance training and examination procedures to improve the surveillance capabilities of anti-money laundering programs and programs countering the financing of terrorism to detect human trafficking-related financial transactions; review and enhance procedures for referring potential human trafficking cases to the appropriate law enforcement agency; and determine, as appropriate, whether requirements for financial institutions and covered financial institutions are sufficient to detect and deter money laundering related to human trafficking. grant rulemaking authority to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking; or authorize financial institutions to deny services to or violate the privacy of victims of trafficking, victims of severe forms of trafficking, or individuals not responsible for promoting severe forms of trafficking in persons.” The appropriate Federal banking agencies, acting through the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, shall each establish a comparable examination improvement program that meets the requirements of paragraph (2). to periodically review the organization and training of the staff of the agency who are responsible for conducting examinations of insured depository institutions and to make such improvements as the agency determines to be appropriate to ensure frequent, objective, and thorough examinations of such institutions; and to increase the number of examiners, supervisors, and other individuals employed by the agency in connection with conducting or supervising examinations of insured depository institutions to the extent necessary to ensure frequent, objective, and thorough examinations of such institutions.”