All in Regulatory Update

FDIC & Federal Reserve List of 2021 Distressed or Underserved Non-Metro Middle-Income Geographies

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 6/25/2021, the FFIEC announced that both the Federal Reserve and the FDIC announced the availability of the 2021 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies. These are geographic areas where revitalization or stabilization activities are eligible to receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration under the community development definition.

More FFIEC BSA/AML Exam Manual Updates

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

on 6/21/2021, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced additional updates to four more sections of their BSA/AML Examination Manual. The long-time Exam Manual provides instructions to examiners for assessing the adequacy of a bank’s or credit union’s BSA/AML compliance program and its compliance with BSA regulatory requirements. The new updates to the Exam Manual are the second round in 2021 and the third round of updates since January 2020. These updates mark the regulators quest for updating the majority of the Exam Manual, though they have repeatedly stated that all updates should not be interpreted as new instructions or increased focus on certain areas.

CFPB Issues Statement on Juneteenth Holiday & Mortgage Closings

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, Regulation Z, TRID

On 6/18/2021, CFPB Acting Director, Dave Uegio, issued a statement on the impact of the new Juneteenth Holiday on residential mortgage closings. As a background, President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 17, 2021, just two days before the actual new holiday of June 19, 2021. As this new holiday is a Federal Holiday, Financial Institutions immediately had concerns regarding implementation of the new Juneteenth Federal Holiday, particularly as it relates to mortgage compliance under Regulation Z and the Truth in Lending Act.

CFPB Resumes MLA Exams

Adam Witmer
MLA, Regulatory Update

On 6/16/21, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule that explains the basis for its authority to examine supervised financial institutions for risks to active duty servicemembers and their dependents (i.e. military borrowers) from conduct that violates the Military Lending Act (MLA). In 2018, the CFPB’s leadership discontinued MLA-related examination activities, based on its stated belief that Congress did not specifically confer examination authority on the CFPB with respect to the MLA. The current CFPB leadership does not find those prior beliefs persuasive and the CFPB will now resume MLA-related examination activities.

FBI Warns of Elder Abuse

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update

On 6/15/2021, the FBI issued an article warning of elder abuse as well as a report from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The article explains that older people are an attractive target for fraudsters and scammers as this demographic tends to have more financial stability - which makes them a target for criminals.

CFPB Report on HMDA Threshold

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, HMDA

On June 14, 2021, the CFPB issued a report that reviews differences in lending patterns for lenders below and above the 100-loan closed-end threshold set by the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule. The CFPB also issued a blog post that explains the data source and analytical approach, as well as key findings from their report. Even though the information presented in the report covers all 2019 HMDA reporters with closed-end origination volume below 1,000, the CFPB explains that their report highlights the contrasts between the reporters whose origination volume was below 100 and those whose origination volume was over 100, as 100 corresponds to the closed-end reporting threshold set by the 2020 HMDA Rule.

CFPB Issues EFT FAQs

Adam Witmer
Regulation E, Regulatory Update

On 6/4/2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) under the topic of “Unauthorized Electronic Fund Transfers, Subpart A to Regulation E.” This FAQs provide guidance on several areas financial institutions have struggled with over the years, including topics like determining how to handle instances where consumer share account access information with third parties who fraudulently obtain the information, consumer negligence, private network rules, and requiring police reports. These FAQs appear to be the first of several topics, so compliance professionals should stay tuned over the next few years to see if more Reg E FAQs are released by the CFPB.

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