WASHINGTON (11/25/15)--Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) reported net income of $40.4 billion in the third quarter of 2015, up $1.9 billion (5.1%) from a year earlier. According to the FDIC, the increase in earnings was mainly attributable to a $3.2 billion decline in non-interest expenses, as itemized litigation expenses at large banks were $2.7 billion lower than a year ago…

WASHINGTON (11/25/15)--The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center released a bulletin this week highlighting the threats that come with destructive malware. According to the center, this type of malware “presents a significant threat to an organization’s daily operations and business continuity; it impacts confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, and can thwart an organization’s ability to recover from an attack.” The recent cyberattacks against Sony Entertainment and the Las Vegas Sands are examples of destructive malware…

WASHINGTON (11/25/15)--The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced upgrades to its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) online registration system this week, which is only for foreign financial institutions. The new design will allow sponsoring entities to obtain a global intermediary identification number, and allow users to update information, download registration tables. The FATCA online registration system is a secure, web-based system that financial institutions and other entities can use to register for FATCA purposes. Launched in 2013, the system allows the IRS to identify foreign financial institutions and certain other entities with FATCA obligations…