On 11/9/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that they convened a virtual FinCEN Exchange with members of the financial industry and law enforcement to discuss FinCEN’s analysis of suspicious activity reporting (SAR) with a transactional nexus to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Topics of discussion in the exchange included an analysis of certain Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) filing statistics for SARs and an analysis of SAR filings related to recent FinCEN advisories.

In early November, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released two guides to assist families and friend of people living in nursing homes and assisted living communities who may be subject to elder financial abuse. While these guides weren’t designed specifically for financial institutions, they could be a great resource for financial institutions when a customer suspects a family member or friend is subject to elder financial abuse.

On 11/2/2021, the CFPB released the statement, CFPB Finds Credit Report Disputes Far More Common in Majority Black and Hispanic Neighborhoods. In their release, the CFPB explains that consumers in majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, as well as younger consumers and those with low credit scores, are far more likely to have disputes appear on their credit reports. According to the CFPB, the new research is a part of a series of reports focusing on trends in the consumer financial marketplace, and uses data on auto loan, student loan, and credit card accounts opened between 2012 and 2019.

VIDEO: Executive Summary on CFPB Proposal for Small Business Data Collection

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam provides a quick executive summary of the CFPB’s recent proposal to amend Regulation B, which will require small business data collection and reporting - much like HMDA - for many financial institutions. As this rule will have a significant impact on financial institutions, it is important to understand the direction this proposal is headed in regards to who might be required to report and what this rule is going to require. This video is a MUST WATCH for all compliance officer, senior lenders, and those who may be required to implement this new rule. (NOTE: Feel free to share this video with those in your team who may need to have this information as this video is free to all.)

On 10/29/21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced leadership changes within the CFPB. The positions announced were: Assistant Director for the Office of Supervision Policy and Assistant Director for the Office of Enforcement. Specifically, Lorelei Salas will be joining the CFPB as Assistant Director for Supervision Policy and will also serve as the Acting Assistant Director for Supervision Examinations and Eric Halperin has joined the CFPB as Assistant Director for the Office of Enforcement.

On 10/29/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the renewal of its longstanding Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold remains $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area.

On 10/28/21, the OCC released Bulleting 2021-52 to announce the issuance of version 2.0 of the “Retail Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. This booklet discusses risks associated with retail lending and provides a framework for examiners’ evaluations of risk management activities.

In late October of 2021, the OCC issued a set of 25 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) relating to the OCC’s proposal to rescind and replace the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued on June 5, 2020 (June 2020 CRA rule). The FAQs provide information on the rulemaking process and the OCC’s consideration of potential CRA issues during any transition from the June 2020 CRA rule to a rule largely based on the rules adopted jointly by the OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1995, as revised (1995 rules).