FinCEN, the OCC, the CFPB and OFAC each post enforcement actions on their own pages. Where to find them, how to date them and what to read past the penalty.
The penalty is one line of the action
Coverage of a bank enforcement action usually leads with the dollar figure. For readers who work in compliance, the useful parts sit elsewhere: the findings that say which controls failed, and the terms that say what the institution now has to build, by when and under whose review.
The OCC's October 2024 action against TD Bank shows how far apart those parts can sit. The OCC's news release announced a cease-and-desist order, a $450 million civil money penalty and a growth restriction, coordinated with the Justice Department, the Federal Reserve and FinCEN. The penalty consent order runs nine pages: jurisdiction, the Comptroller's findings, the penalty, waivers and closing. Its findings open with a phrase worth copying exactly: the Comptroller finds, "and the Bank neither admits nor denies," the following.
That order contains no growth terms. They belong to the cease-and-desist order announced the same day. Anyone who opened only the penalty order would have missed the restriction.
Where each agency posts
Bookmark the enforcement pages themselves, since agency homepages put speeches and guidance first. The table lists what each page holds and what to record from it.
| Agency | What it covers | Where it posts | What to note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FinCEN | Bank Secrecy Act enforcement: banks and credit unions, money services businesses, casinos, securities firms, precious metals dealers, some individuals | Enforcement Actions, each entry linked to a PDF | Matter number, date and institution type |
| OCC | National banks, federal savings associations, federal branches and agencies of foreign banks, and affiliated individuals | A monthly enforcement release, plus the Enforcement Actions Search of public actions since August 1989 | Monthly releases include terminations of older actions |
| CFPB | Consumer-finance enforcement through civil actions and administrative proceedings | Enforcement actions, with court documents and related materials | Status filter includes Expired/Terminated/Dismissed and Post Order/Post Judgment |
| OFAC | Sanctions civil penalties, settlements and findings of violation | Civil Penalties and Enforcement Information, a yearly chart with each date linked to a release | Recent Actions is a separate page for OFAC's other updates |
| Federal Reserve | Board enforcement actions | Enforcement actions with a search tool | Open the linked order for its terms |
| FDIC | FDIC enforcement orders | A monthly release of orders on its press releases page | The month covered and the release date |
Checked against each agency's page in November 2026. Note the date of the most recent entry each time you check.
Date the order, then date the release
An order carries its own execution date. The public may learn of it later, sometimes in a monthly batch. The OCC's February 2026 release, for example, published the month's actions, and every one was a termination of an older formal agreement. A reader skimming the headline could mistake that for new enforcement.
Take the execution date from the document and report the release date as a separate fact. "Made public on" is accurate for the second. "Regulators acted today" usually isn't.
Two dates, two facts
Record the execution date from the order and the release date from the agency announcement. Use each one only for what it shows.
Copy this order log
Keep one row per action. When something new appears, open the PDF, skip to the findings and the corrective sections, and fill the log before you write a word. Then ask three questions. Which control failed? What does the order make the institution build, by when? Which other firms run the same kind of operation?
The third question is a reporting question. It can point your readers to a risk they share, but it can't establish that any other named firm has the same problem.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Respondent | Legal name, charter or license type, location |
| Agency and document | Consent order, penalty assessment, cease-and-desist, termination |
| Date executed | From the document itself |
| Date made public | From the agency's release or listing |
| Findings | The control failures, quoted with article and page |
| Admission language | The document's exact wording, such as "neither admits nor denies" |
| Corrective requirements | Each obligation and its deadline |
| Review | Who must approve or check the work: board, independent consultant, regulator |
| Related actions | Other agencies' orders against the same respondent, announced together or separately |
| Reader question | What your audience should check in its own operation |
One row per action. Link the PDF for every row.
A hypothetical money transmitter order
This example is hypothetical; it refers to no real company or order.
Say a FinCEN order cites a money transmitter for transaction-monitoring alerts that sat unreviewed for months. The penalty takes one sentence. The findings describe how the queue backed up, and the corrective terms require a lookback review and an independent consultant's report by a set date.
The piece compliance readers can use explains the control the order describes and what the remediation requires, quoted from the document. It can ask whether readers' own alert queues would hold up. It shouldn't name other firms as having the same failure without evidence.
Following the field
When an enforcement action is filed in federal court, the federal docket guide covers reading the entries by role. When a public company discloses an order, its SEC filings give the company's own account.
A Niche briefing follows the coverage in a field you describe, merges syndicated copies and keeps supporting sources attached. When a briefing story is about an enforcement action, open the agency page and fill the log.
Frequently asked questions
Where are FinCEN enforcement actions published?
On FinCEN's Enforcement Actions page, which lists each action with a date, matter number and institution type and links to the document as a PDF.
How does the OCC release enforcement actions?
In a monthly release, and in its Enforcement Actions Search, which holds public actions since August 1989. A monthly release can include terminations of older actions, so take the execution date from each order.
What's the difference between a consent order and a civil money penalty?
A civil money penalty is the fine. A consent order is an order the institution agrees to, and it can impose a penalty, corrective requirements or both. In the OCC's 2024 TD Bank action, the penalty came in one consent order and the growth restriction in a separate cease-and-desist order announced the same day.