Requiring an independent review of certain banking operations is not a new enforcement tool. Historically, independent reviews have most often been required by the Federal Reserve in connection with a banking organization’s money-laundering or Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions-compliance programs.
Independent reviews typically require the regulated entity to hire a third party to do more time-intensive work than the regulator has already done. The examiners have perhaps found a problem and want the institution, at its own expense rather than taxpayer expense, to do more extensive scoping and remediation.