By order dated December 1, 2017, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania approved an amendment to Rule 221 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement, regarding mandatory trust account overdraft notifications by financial institutions.
The rule previously required financial institutions eligible to hold IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) funds to enter into an agreement to make a report to the Lawyers Fund for Client Security Board when an overdraft occurs on a lawyer trust account. The amendment preserves this requirement, but also adds language to subsections (h) and (k) of the rule, requiring that the institution also agree to comply with all IOLTA regulations. An institution’s failure to make a required report or otherwise comply with the IOLTA regulations may provide cause for termination of its approval to handle funds.
The rule change is published at 47 Pa.B. 7557 (December 16, 2017).