As a follow up to our recent post on e-Verify, many of our financial institution clients have been asking whether they are required to comply with the new federal e-Verify requirements for federal contractors.

Under federal affirmative action laws, many banks are considered federal contractors because they are issuing and paying agents for U.S. savings bonds or they are insured by FDIC. However, as explained below, issuance and payment of U.S. savings bonds and FDIC insurance do not trigger e-Verify obligations.

 

Clarifying language in the e-Verify regulations states that:

Agreements or activities performed by financial institutions that are not subject to the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) are not required to comply with the e-Verify provisions and clauses of the FAR.

 

This statement in the e-Verify regulations is given in response to a specific question about whether banks and other financial institutions whose federal contracts are limited to serving as issuing and paying agents for U.S. savings bonds or being insured by the FDIC should be excluded from e-Verify requirements. Since issuance of or payment on U.S. savings bonds and FDIC insurance are not covered by FAR, they do not trigger e-Verify obligations. Similarly, the clarification notes that financial agency agreements (FAAs) between banks and the federal government are not subject to FAR and, therefore, do not trigger e-Verify obligations.

 

For all of these reasons, so long as the only federal contracts for your bank are of the sort described above, you can rest assured that you do not have to comply with the federal e-Verify requirements. 

 

The e-Verify regulations do not address specifically federal share insurance of the sort that credit unions have under the National Credit Union Insurance Fund.  However, the rationale for concluding that FDIC insurance does not trigger e-Verify requirements would  apply also to federal share insurance for credit unions.