On the first day of spring, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today issued the Winter 2018 issue of Supervisory Insights, which includes a feature article examining the future of, and alternatives to, the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR).

LIBOR is a popular reference rate for commercial loans, residential mortgages, derivatives and swaps, and other credit instruments.  While LIBOR often is viewed as a reference rate used by larger financial institutions, it is also important to smaller community banks and savings institutions.  Initiatives are underway that could transition financial markets away from the use of LIBOR as a reference rate after 2021. Therefore, financial institutions must plan for this potential change and the FDIC provides guidance in this article.

On March 25, 2019, the OCC released Bulletin 2019-15 as a reminder to supervised banks that certain nonpublic OCC information generally cannot be disclosed.  In the bulletin, the OCC explains that reports of examination and other nonpublic OCC information are the property of the OCC. Except in very limited circumstances, a bank may not disclose this information without the prior written permission of the OCC. This prohibition applies to any portion of a report of examination, supervisory correspondence, and any representations concerning the report or supervisory correspondence, or their findings, including the assigned CAMELS rating. Any unauthorized disclosure or use of nonpublic information may be subject to criminal penalties.

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.

On 3/18/19, the FDIC finally rescinded their annual disclosure statement requirement.  This rule comes a few months after the October 25, 2018 proposal, and over twenty years after two other agencies rescinded similar guidance due to the internet and availability of such data.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.

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.