On March 9, 2022, President Joseph Biden, Jr. signed an Executive Order outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to protect consumers, financial stability, national security, and address climate risks. The EO aims to address the risks and harness the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology.

On March 9, 2022, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra released a statement on President Biden’s Executive Order, Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets. The EO outlines the whole-of-government strategy to protect consumers, financial stability, national security, and address climate risks.

On March 8, 2022, the OCC issued an updated “Large Bank Supervision” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. The “Large Bank Supervision” booklet is prepared for use by OCC examiners in connection with their examination and supervision of midsize and large national banks and federal savings associations as well as foreign-owned U.S. branches and agencies.

On March 7, 2022, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu spoke at the at the Institute of International Bankers Annual Washington Conference where he discussed climate-related financial risk and the importance of promoting diversity and inclusion in the banking industry. The IIB, according to Hsu, has a long history of bringing together senior government officials and industry leaders to address policy and business issues of importance to the international banking community in the United States.

On March 3, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury convened a virtual discussion, “The Climate Transition: Federal Policy and State and Local Government Best Practices.” The participants discussed the steps that state and local governments are taking to include climate data into municipal capital planning processes, develop innovative tools and policies to finance climate mitigation and transition projects, and disclose climate-related financial risks to municipal market participants.

On March 1, 2022 the CFPB issued a report highlighting the complicated and burdensome nature of the medical billing system in the United States. The report reveals that the U.S. healthcare system is supported by a billing, payments, collections, and credit reporting infrastructure where mistakes are common, and where patients often have difficulty getting these errors corrected or resolved.

On February 28, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that they are adding regulations to implement an April 15, 2021 Russia-related Executive order. These regulations took effect on March 1, 2022.

On 2/23/2022, the CFPB issued a Compliance Aid that describes the interest rate that is used for calculating prepaid interest under the price-based General QM APR calculation rule for certain ARMs and step-rate loans. The fact sheet is especially useful for creditors to determine whether they satisfy the price-based General QM definition.