On January 19, 2024, the Federal Reserve Board issued an enforcement action and fined the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and its New York branch approximately $2.4 million for their unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information. It is illegal to disclose confidential supervisory information which includes reports of bank examinations and other confidential communications by banking regulators without prior approval of the appropriate banking regulator.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. is a foreign bank that conducts operations in the United States through a branch in New York, New York where the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve is the appropriate federal supervisor. During the FRB’s investigation, the agency found that the Bank lacked any formal policies, procedures, training, or other internal controls designed to instruct employees regarding how to properly handle confidential supervisory information (CSI) or how to prevent the unauthorized dissemination and use of CSI. After receiving confirmation from the Federal Reserve’s staff that a proposed communications with a third party included CSI and would therefore require a waiver from the Board prior to disclosure, the Bank nonetheless caused the unauthorized disclosure of CSI to occur.
The FRB imposed a civil money penalty on the Bank of China in the amount of $2,431,956. The Board's action is being taken in conjunction with an action by the New York Department of Financial Services, the state supervisor of the bank's New York branch. The penalties announced by the Board and the Department of Financial Services total approximately $32.4 million.
Read the FRB’s news release here.
The order can be found here.