On 5/17/21, the Federal Reserve, CFPB, FDIC, NCUA, and OCC jointly announced that they extended the comment period on the request for information on financial institutions’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) until July 1, 2021. Comments were originally due by June 1, 2021, but this extension was made to allow stakeholders more time to coordinate and prepare their comments.

On 5/11/21, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) published its 2021 Risk Review, which outlines a list of emerging risks in the U.S. banking system. According to the FDIC’s release, they began reporting key banking sector risks in its Risk Review publication in 2019, and this year’s report expands coverage of key risks during a time of heightened uncertainty.

VIDEO: RESPA Section 8 Violation Example

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam discusses a recent hot topic pointed out by the FDIC: RESPA Section 8. This discussion provides a background on why Adam believes that RESPA Section 8 is once again, a hot topic. This video would be great to share with your compliance team who may have responsibilities for monitoring for RESPA Section 8 risk.

On 5/4/2021, the CFPB released two reports where the CFPB explains that more work needs to be done to help mortgage borrowers coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. The first report documents that Black and Hispanic mortgage borrowers are much more likely to be delinquent or in a forbearance program than white borrowers. In a second report, the CFPB reports that overall mortgage complaints to the CFPB have risen to their highest level in three years.

On 4/29/2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the renewal of a set of Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that have been renewed several times now, the last renewal being in November 2020. These GTOs require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate and only apply to title companies in certain metropolitan areas. The purchase amount threshold remains $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area.

On 4/29/2021, the OCC released Bulletin 2021-22 to announce they had issued a revised “Credit Card Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook, which is prepared for use by OCC examiners in connection with the examination and supervision of national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banking organizations (collectively, banks).

Our BSA Annual Update (Spring 2021) is again on sale this week. This program covers BSA/AML changes that took place over the last year, dating back to January 1, 2020 and through March of 2021. As you might expect, there were a ton of changes that took place and this program is a great way to make sure your BSA teams don’t let anything fall through the cracks. You can view an overview video and see the full curriculum of this program at www.compliancecohort.com/bsa-annual-update.