All in Regulatory Update

FFIEC Releases 2019 HMDA GIR Guide

Adam Witmer
HMDA, Regulatory Update

On March 25, 2019, the CFPB announced the availability of the FFIEC 2019 HMDA Getting it Right (GIR) Guide.  Updated each year, the GIR guide is a valuable resource for assisting all institutions in their HMDA reporting. It includes a summary of responsibilities and requirements, directions for assembling the necessary tools, and instructions for reporting HMDA data.

The full GIR guide can be found at…

The 2019 edition is effective January 1, 2019, and applies to 2019 HMDA data that must be submitted by March 1, 2020.  This updated edition reflects amendments made to HMDA by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act and the 2018 HMDA interpretive and procedural rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

FFIEC Updates Exam Report Standards

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On March 6, 2019, the FFIEC issued a joint statement to promote consistency, clarify and ease of reference for the presentation of information in examination reports.  The FFIEC has been working on an Examination Modernization Project - which is aimed at reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on community financial institutions - and this policy statement is aimed to provide consistency upon exam agencies in regards to the structure of examination reports.

FDIC Rescinds Annual Disclosure Requirement

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 3/18/19, the FDIC finally rescinded their annual disclosure statement requirement.  This rule comes a few months after the October 25, 2018 proposal, and over twenty years after two other agencies rescinded similar guidance due to the internet and availability of such data.  This new final rule rescinds and removes the FDIC’s regulations entitled Disclosure of Financial and Other Information By FDIC-Insured State Nonmember Banks. Once the regulations are removed, state nonmember banks and insured state-licensed branches of foreign banks will no longer be subject to the annual disclosure statement as the information required to be disclosed by this rule is also available publicly through the FDIC’s website.

It should be noted that this rule will become effective on April 17, 2019 - meaning that applicable banks must ensure that the disclosure statement requirements are met for 2019 as the deadline is (at least) March 31 of each year.

OCC Releases List of Key HMDA Data Points

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, HMDA

On March 7, 2019, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a bulletin (2019-12) explaining the key HMDA data fields for full and partial HMDA reporters.  In their bulletin, the OCC explains that key data fields have been identified to support the efficient and effective evaluation of banks’ compliance with HMDA requirements. Of the 110 total data fields, 37 have been identified as key fields by the OCC, Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on an interagency basis. The OCC explains that OCC examiners will typically test and validate these 37 key fields for the banks that are required to collect, record, and report information for all HMDA data fields. For banks that qualify for a partial exemption from the HMDA data collection, recording, and reporting requirements, OCC examiners will typically test and validate 21 of those 37 fields.

CFPB Provides Snapshot of Mortgage Complaints

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, Compliance Management

At the end of January (1/29/29), the CFPB released their “Complaint snapshot: Mortgage” document.  This report takes a deep dive into the mortgage-related complaints received by the Bureau and also highlights some trends that they have observed. For those of you with large mortgage originations and portfolios (which is almost every financial institution), this information can be extremely valuable for two reasons.  First, this information can…

CFPB Reaches More Settlements

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

In addition to the settlement with USAA on January 3, 2019, the CFPB has made settlements with five other entities already in 2019.  Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, Sterling Jewelers operates over 1.500 jewelry stores under several names, including Kay Jewelers, Jared The Galleria of Jewelry, JB Robinson Jewelers, Marks & Morgan Jewelers, Belden Jewelers, Goodman Jewelers, LeRoy’s Jewelers, Osterman Jewelers, Rogers Jewelers, Shaw’s Jewelers, and Weisfield Jewelers.

CFPB Issues Analysis on Elder Financial Exploitation

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On February 27, 2019, the CFPB issued a report titled “Suspicious Activity Reports on Elder Financial Exploitation: Issues and Trends.”  In their release, they explain that financial institutions have reported over 180,000 suspicious activities targeting older adults. Combined, these Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) involved more than $6 billion in elder financial exploitation.

The first of its kind, this report presents a public analysis of SARs filed for elder financial exploitation between 2013 and 2017.  The CFPB explains that the findings in the analysis provide an “opportunity to better understand the complex problem of elder financial exploitation and to identify ways to improve prevention and response.” The full report runs 35 pages long and includes several sections including…

CFPB Updates 2019 List of Rural and Underserved Counties

Adam Witmer
Regulation Z, Regulatory Update

Yesterday, 2/12/19, the CFPB released their list of rural and underserved counties.  That list, which can be exported to a PDF, CSV, or an Excel file, can be found here.   In conjunction with updating this list, the CFPB has also updated its “Rural or Underserved Areas Tool” which can be used to provide a safe harbor determination that a property is located in a rural or underserved area.  The tool provides more detail than the county list because the tool includes both locations that are rural because they lie in a non-urban census block as well as locations that are in rural counties while the list only reflects rural status only at the county level.

We understand that this information isn’t the most exciting of information, but it is important to understand how this information impacts community banks and credit unions.  Specifically, the updated rural and underserved information applies to…

FDIC Extends Comment Period for FDIC Deposit Insurance Application Process Proposal

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On February 12, 2019, the FDIC extended the comment period related to the Request for Information (RFI) on the Deposit Insurance Application Process from February 11, 2019, to March 31, 2019.  The Financial Institution Letter (FIL-7-2019) announcing this extension can be found here.

An interesting note on this is that the original comment period for this RFI ended on February 11, 2019.  Upon reviewing the comments received on the FDIC’s website, it appears that only ten (10) comments have been received as of the date of the writing of this article.  Therefore, it appears that the FDIC has extended the comment period in hopes of obtaining more comments on this topic.

Comments on the RFI can be submitted (and read) here.

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