The last few months have seen a flurry of new federal cybersecurity incident reporting requirements and proposals impacting private entities in the financial sector. As the number and frequency of cyber attacks continue to grow, regulators have attempted to enhance cybersecurity protections via increased and more rigid incident reporting obligations, leading to a constantly shifting regulatory patchwork of varying disclosure and timing obligations. … Continue Reading
FDIC
FDIC Acting Chair announces 2022 priorities
With Democrats now firmly in control of the FDIC, Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg released a list of the FDIC’s priorities for 2022. His list of priorities included the following:
- Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): The FDIC, Federal Reserve, and OCC plan to act jointly on a notice of proposed rulemaking in the near future that would strengthen and enhance CRA.
California federal district court upholds OCC and FDIC “Madden-fix” rules
A California federal district court judge has rejected challenges to the OCC’s and FDIC’s Madden-fix rules brought in two separate lawsuits by state attorneys general. The OCC rule is codified at 12 C.F.R. Section 7.4001(e) and the FDIC rule is codified at 12 C.F.R. Section 160.110(d). The rules provide that a loan made by a national bank, federal savings association, or federally-insured state-chartered bank that is permissible under applicable federal law (Section 85 of the National Bank Act (NBA) or Section 27 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA)) is not affected by the sale, assignment, or other transfer of the loan.… Continue Reading
Federal financial regulators tighten timelines for reporting ransomware attacks
As anticipated, the OCC, Federal Reserve Board, and FDIC recently approved and released the Final Rule Requiring Computer-Security Incident Notification (“Final Rule”). The Final Rule is designed to promote early awareness and stop computer security incidents before they become systemic. It places new reporting requirements on both U.S. banking organizations, as well as bank service providers.
Federal banking agencies Issue “Crypto Asset Roadmap” for 2022 guidance; OCC confirms prior interpretive letters on crypto (but adds no-objection requirement)
The Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, and OCC (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued on November 23 a short Joint Statement on Crypto-Asset Policy Sprint Initiative and Next Steps (“Joint Statement”), which announced – without further concrete detail – that they had assembled a “crypto asset roadmap” in order to provide greater clarity in 2022 to banks on the permissibility of certain crypto-asset activities. … Continue Reading
CFPB/federal banking agencies/state financial regulators announce end of flexible supervisory and enforcement approach to mortgage servicer compliance
In the latest demonstration that there’s a “new CFPB” as well as other new regulatory sheriffs in town, the CFPB, the federal banking agencies (OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, and NCUA), and state financial regulators issued a joint statement yesterday to announce that they will no longer provide “supervisory and enforcement flexibility” to mortgage servicers in meeting compliance requirements. … Continue Reading
Ballard Spahr attorneys complete White Paper on bank-model lending
Ballard Spahr attorneys have now completed a months-long project in updating and expanding a 2017 White Paper addressing bank-model lending—programs involving partnerships between banks (or savings associations) and fintech or other nonbank companies in the interstate delivery of loans.
The new White Paper, which runs 49 pages single-spaced, is designed to serve as a comprehensive survey of laws, cases and regulatory attitudes addressing bank-model lending. … Continue Reading
CFPB, federal and state bank and credit union regulators warn of increased supervisory scrutiny in joint statement on managing LIBOR transition
The CFPB, Federal Reserve Board, FDIC NCUA, OCC, in conjunction with the state bank and state credit union regulators, jointly issued a statement on managing the transition away from LIBOR (Joint Statement).
In 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulator that oversees the panel of banks on whose submissions LIBOR is based, announced that it would discontinue LIBOR sometime after 2021.… Continue Reading
This week’s podcast: A look at recent developments related to marketing by nonbanks of products and services offered with bank partners
Marketing by nonbanks of products and services offered with bank partners is coming under increasing scrutiny that focuses on the potential for consumers to be led to believe that the nonbank is a bank, or is FDIC insured. We discuss recent state and federal regulatory and enforcement developments, including the FDIC’s proposed rule addressing false advertising, misuse of the FDIC logo, and misrepresentation of insured status, and state regulators’ and federal lawmakers’ interest in the issue, and offer takeaways for banks and nonbank partners on what these developments mean for their marketing efforts.… Continue Reading
This week’s podcast: Congress overrides the OCC’s true lender rule: what are the risks for banks and their loan program nonbank partners?
The OCC’s true lender rule was intended to create a bright line test for when a national bank or federal savings association should be considered the “true lender” in the context of third party partnerships but Congress overturned the rule. After reviewing the relevant background, we examine the Congressional override’s implications for future federal true lender rulemaking and its impact on existing law, key federal and state court challenges and decisions, state legislative and administrative developments, and risk mitigants for bank/nonbank partnerships, including potential loan program structures.… Continue Reading