Federal Agencies

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The Federal Reserve System, through its Consumer Compliance Outlook platform, recently hosted its annual Fair Lending Interagency Webinar.  During the session, a variety of fair lending topics were discussed, including redlining, appraisal bias, and Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs), as well as supervision and enforcement-related updates. Presenters included representatives from the following federal agencies: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Department of Justice (DOJ); Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA); Federal Reserve Board (FRB); National Credit Union Administration (NCUA); and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).… Continue Reading

On July 18, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) announced the launch of a new Office of Financial Technology with the goal of advancing effective risk management as it evaluates fintech developments in the housing finance space.  The FHFA also issued a request for information (“RFI”) seeking public input on how to facilitate responsible innovation, identify barriers or challenges to implementing fintech into housing finance, support equity for homeowners and renters, and increase efficiency and effectiveness in the compliance and regulatory processes. … Continue Reading

On July 8, with limited fanfare, the Department of Treasury issued a request for public comment regarding the March 9, 2022 Executive Order entitled “Ensuring Responsible Innovation in Digital Assets” (the “Order”).  The request for comment poses five core questions, each with multiple subparts, on a spectrum of topics of great complexity. … Continue Reading

Yesterday, eight federal agencies joined together to issue an “Interagency Statement on Special Purpose Credit Programs Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B” (Interagency Statement).  The agencies consist of the CFPB, FDIC, OCC, Federal Reserve Board, NCUA, HUD, DOJ, and FHFA.  The Interagency Statement indicates that it is intended “to remind creditors of the ability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B to establish special purpose credit programs to meet the credit needs of specified classes of persons” and to “call[] attention to the special purpose credit options under ECOA and Regulation B.”… Continue Reading

In this podcast, we discuss: the compliance challenges that could give rise to enforcement actions against PPP lenders and current and potential future investigatory activity; fair lending guidance for PPP lenders, key fair lending risks, and steps to mitigate fair lending risk; the status of examinations and reviews related to PPP loans; sources of compliance risk for PPP lenders; and suggested best practices for risk mitigation.… Continue Reading

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued new guidance on authentication and access titled, “Authentication and Access to Financial Institution Services and Systems” (Guidance.)  The Guidance is intended to provide financial institutions with examples of effective risk management principles and practices for access and authentication.

The Guidance contains risk management principles and practices that can support a financial institution’s authentication of (1) users accessing the financial institution’s information systems, including employees, board members, third parties, service accounts, application, and devices (collectively, users) and (2) business and consumer customers (collectively, customers) authorized to access digital banking services.  … Continue Reading

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that Fannie Mae will consider a loan applicant’s rental payment history in making underwriting decisions.  According to the FHFA, the change was made as a means of expanding credit access.

The FHFA’s announcement is yet another example of the growing use of alternative data by creditors in making credit decisions. … Continue Reading

Tom Vartanian is a former federal banking regulator and law professor.  In Part II of this two-part podcast, we discuss technology’s impact on the banking system, how a new cyberspace infrastructure can increase security, the current financial conditions that could spark the next financial crisis, cryptocurrency’s role in building new networks for the creation and delivery of financial services, and quantum computing’s impact on encryption.… Continue Reading

Tom Vartanian is a former federal banking regulator and law professor.  In Part I of this two-part podcast, we discuss the government policies that have contributed to or caused the financial crises faced by the U.S. over the past 200 years, how the consumer financial services industry can benefit from smarter regulation and a principles-based rather than a rules-based regulatory system, and how regulators can better utilize technological innovation.… Continue Reading

On December 18, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Current (OCC), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced an interagency notice of proposed rulemaking that would require supervised banking organizations to provide notification of significant computer security incidents to their primary federal regulator.  Under the proposed rule, for incidents that could result in a banking organization’s inability to deliver services to a material portion of its customer base, jeopardize the viability of key operations of a banking organization, or impact the stability of the financial sector, the banking organization must notify its primary federal regulator no later than 36 hours after determining an incident has occurred. … Continue Reading