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  • FFIEC updates BSA/AML examination manual

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On June 21, the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) published updated versions of four sections of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual (Manual), which provides examiners with instructions for assessing a bank or credit union’s BSA/AML compliance program and compliance with BSA regulatory requirements. The revisions can be identified by a 2021 date label on the FFIEC BSA/AML InfoBase and include the following updated sections: International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments Reporting, Purchase and Sale of Monetary Instruments Recordkeeping, Reports of Foreign Financial Accounts, and Special Measures. The FFIEC notes that the “updates should not be interpreted as new instructions or as a new or increased focus on certain areas,” but are intended to “offer further transparency into the examination process and support risk-focused examination work.” In addition, the Manual itself does not establish requirements for financial institutions as these requirements are found in applicable statutes and regulations. (See also FDIC FIL-12-2021 and OCC Bulletin 2021-10.) As previously covered by InfoBytes, in February the FFIEC updated the following sections of the Manual: Assessing Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act Regulatory RequirementsCustomer Identification ProgramCurrency Transaction Reporting, and Transactions of Exempt Persons.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FDIC Federal Reserve OCC FFIEC NCUA Bank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Of Interest to Non-US Persons Financial Crimes Bank Regulatory

  • FFIEC releases 2020 HMDA data

    Federal Issues

    On June 17, the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) released the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data on mortgage lending transactions at 4,475 covered institutions. Available data products include: (i) the HMDA Dynamic National Loan-Level Dataset, which is updated on a weekly basis to reflect late submissions and resubmissions; (ii) the Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset, which contains the national HMDA datasets as of a fixed date, in the case of 2020 data, May 1, 2021; (iii) the Aggregate and Disclosure Reports, which provides summaries on individual institutions and geographies; (vi) the HMDA Data Browser where users can customize tables and download datasets for further analysis; and (v) the modified Loan/Application Registers for filers of 2020 HMDA data.

    The data currently includes “a total of 48 data points providing information about the applicants, the property securing the loan or proposed to secure the loan in the case of non-originated applications, the transaction, and identifiers.” The 2020 data includes information on 22.7 million home loan applications, 14.5 million of which resulted in loan originations, and 2.8 million purchased loans. Among the observations from the data relative to the prior year: (i) the number of reporting institutions decreased by roughly 19 percent; (ii) closed-end loan applications increased by roughly 63 percent, while open-end line of credit applications decreased by 19 percent; (iii) the total number of originated closed-end loans increased by roughly 67 percent; (iv) refinance originations for 1-4 family properties increased by 150 percent; (v) home purchase lending increased by almost 7 percent; and (vi) non-depository, independent mortgage companies accounted for approximately 60 percent of first-lien owner-occupied home purchase loans (up from approximately 56 percent in 2019).

    Federal Issues FFIEC HMDA Mortgages CFPB Bank Regulatory

  • Agencies to proceed with Call Report revisions

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On May 24, the FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, and the OCC published a joint notice and request for comments on information collections published last December and this February (covered by InfoBytes here). The proposed reporting changes would revise and extend three versions of the Call Report—FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041, and FFIEC 051—as well as FFIEC 002, “Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks,” and FFIEC 002S, “Report of Assets and Liabilities of a Non-U.S. Branch that is Managed or Controlled by a U.S. Branch or Agency of a Foreign (Non-U.S.) Bank.” After considering comments received on the information collections, the agencies announced their intention to proceed with the proposed revisions and will submit a request to Office of Management and Budget for approval. The proposed revisions to the reporting forms, along with revised instructions related to FDIC amendments to the deposit insurance assessment system, will be effective with the June 30, 2021, report date. Additionally, the agencies noted that the exclusion of sweep deposits and certain other deposits from reporting as brokered deposits will be effective with the September 30, 2021, report date. Comments on the joint notice must be received by June 23.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Federal Issues OCC CRA Bank Compliance Call Report FFIEC Of Interest to Non-US Persons Federal Reserve FDIC Bank Regulatory

  • FFIEC releases 2020 HMDA data

    Federal Issues

    On March 31, the CFPB announced the release of the 2020 HMDA loan application register (LAR) data. The LAR data, available on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s HMDA Platform, contains modified loan-level information on approximately 4,400 HMDA filers. The Bureau also announced plans to produce the 2020 HMDA data “in other forms to provide users insights into the data, including a nationwide loan-level dataset,” which “will provide all publicly available data from all HMDA reporters, aggregate and disclosure reports with summary information by geography and lender,” and allow users to create custom datasets and reports. The Bureau also stated that it will publish a Data Point article highlighting key trends in the annual data.

    Federal Issues CFPB HMDA Mortgages FFIEC

  • FFIEC releases 2021 HMDA reporting guide

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On March 30, the FDIC issued FIL-21-2021 announcing the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council’s issuance of the 2021 edition of the “Guide to HMDA Reporting: Getting It Right!” The guide applies to HMDA data collected in 2021 that will be reported to supervisory agencies by March 1, 2022, and includes (i) a summary of responsibilities and requirements; (ii) directions for assembling the necessary tools; and (iii) instructions for reporting HMDA data. According to the announcement, the 2021 edition provides information to assist with HMDA compliance in the event of a merger or acquisition, as well as updates to the appendices that reflect amendments to Regulation C made by a CFPB final rule published last year (covered by InfoBytes here). The final rule increased the permanent threshold from 25 to 100 loans starting July 1, 2020, for both depository and nondepository institutions, and also increased the permanent threshold for collecting and reporting data about open-end lines of credit from 100 to 200. The latter change, however, will not take effect until January 1, 2022, when the current temporary threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit expires.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FDIC FFIEC HMDA CFPB Regulation C Mortgages Bank Regulatory

  • FFIEC updates BSA/AML examination manual

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On February 25, the FFIEC published updated versions of four sections of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual (Manual), which provides examiners with instructions for assessing a bank’s or credit union’s BSA/AML compliance program and compliance with BSA regulatory requirements. The revisions can be identified by a 2021 date on the FFIEC BSA/AML InfoBase and include the following updated sections: Assessing Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act Regulatory Requirements, Customer Identification Program, Currency Transaction Reporting, and Transactions of Exempt Persons. The FFIEC notes that the “updates should not be interpreted as new instructions or as a new or increased focus on certain areas,” but are intended to “offer further transparency into the examination process and support risk-focused examination work.” In addition, the Manual itself does not establish requirements for financial institutions as these requirements are found in applicable statutes and regulations. (See also FDIC FIL-12-2021 and OCC Bulletin 2021-10.)

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FDIC Federal Reserve OCC FFIEC NCUA Bank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Of Interest to Non-US Persons Financial Crimes Bank Regulatory

  • Agencies propose Call Report asset threshold relief

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On February 18, the FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, and the OCC published a joint notice and request for comments on changes to three versions of the Call Report—FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041, and FFIEC 051. The reporting changes, first proposed by the agencies last year, will provide relief to financial institutions with under $10 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2019, by allowing them “to use the lesser of the total consolidated assets reported in its Call Report as of December 31, 2019, or June 30, 2020, when determining whether the institution has crossed certain total asset thresholds to report additional data items in its Call Reports for report dates in calendar year 2021.” The agencies also outline specific thresholds that limit certain eligibility for streamlined Call Reports or that require the reporting of certain additional data items. This relief will only be allowed for calendar year 2021. The agencies will also allow financial institutions that temporarily exceed the $10 billion total asset threshold to use the community bank leverage ratio framework in Call Report Schedule RC R from December 31, 2020, through December 31, 2021, provided the institution meets the other qualifying criteria for this framework. Comments on the proposed changes are due March 22.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FDIC Federal Reserve OCC Call Report FFIEC Bank Regulatory

  • CFPB releases HMDA 2021 reference chart

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On October 16, the CFPB published a new reference chart titled “Reportable HMDA Data: A Regulatory and Reporting Overview Reference Chart for Data Collected in 2021.” The chart is designed to be used as a reference tool for required data points to be collected, recorded, and reported under Regulation C, as amended by HMDA rules issued October 15, 2015, August 24, 2017, October 10, 2019, and April 16, 2020 (most recently covered by InfoBytes here). The Bureau noted that this chart does not provide HMDA loan/application register data fields or enumerations.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance CFPB HMDA FFIEC

  • FFIEC adopts revised interagency examination procedures for TILA

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On September 30, On September 30, the OCC issued Bulletin 2020-84 announcing the Task Force on Consumer Compliance of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s adoption of revised interagency examination procedures for TILA, as implemented by Regulation Z. The updated interagency procedures reflect changes made to Regulation Z that relate to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Mortgage Disclosure Rule. Updates also reflect amendments to TILA that relate to the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA), such as (i) special provisions relating to high-cost loans, appraisals, and student lending; (ii) “an additional type of qualified mortgage for insured depository institutions with less than $10 billion in assets”; and (iii) “an additional type of escrow exemption for insured depository institutions with less than $10 billion in assets.” The bulletin rescinds the “Truth in Lending Act” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook, as well as OCC Bulletin 2018-31, “Truth in Lending Act: Revised Comptroller's Handbook Booklet and Rescissions.” Going forward, examiners should only rely on the revised interagency examination procedures.

    The CFPB also updated its TILA examination procedures to reflect 2017 and 2018 amendments to Regulation Z and EGRRCPA on September 29.

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance TILA CFPB OCC FFIEC Mortgages Disclosures

  • CFPB releases more 2019 HMDA data

    Federal Issues

    On August 27, the CFPB issued a new analysis of the 2019 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data on mortgage lending transactions, which follows an initial release from the CFPB and the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) earlier in June (covered by InfoBytes here). The newly released report groups the new and revised HMDA data points into seven major categories: (i) open-end and reverse mortgage flags; (ii) expanded or revised demographic information; (iii) property type; (iv) loan purpose and characteristics; (v) applicant/borrower characteristics and property characteristics; (vi) pricing outcomes and components; and (vii) miscellaneous data points. The report breaks down the data points in each category by providing a definition and basic reporting requirements, as well as a statistical overview of the reported information.

    Federal Issues CFPB HMDA FFIEC Mortgages

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