- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Kyle Brasseur2023-10-20T20:00:00
New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank (MCB) was assessed nearly $30 million in penalties by federal and state banking regulators for failing to properly oversee a third-party program manager whose prepaid cards were a popular target of fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic.
MCB agreed to pay $15 million as part of a settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and was fined an additional $14.5 million by the Federal Reserve Board, the agencies announced Thursday. The regulators faulted the bank for deficient third-party risk management (TPRM) practices and other Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations.
MCB sponsored the MovoCash Digital Prepaid Visa Card Program, which processed government stimulus funds and expanded unemployment insurance benefits during the pandemic. Prior to the start of the pandemic in March 2020, senior compliance staff at MCB were aware the prepaid card program could be vulnerable to fraudulent account openings, according to the NYDFS’s consent order.
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Metropolitan Commercial Bank announced the appointments of a chief risk officer and Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering officer to bolster its reporting lines following a $30 million enforcement action from federal and state authorities last year.
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