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Warren W. Traiger quoted in American Banker article, “Reg relief = cost savings, right? Not so fast”

American Banker

Warren W. Traiger

Warren W. Traiger was quoted on March 28, 2018 in an American Banker article, “Reg relief = cost savings, right? Not so fast,” which discussed many banks’ hope of a reduction in compliance costs should the Senate pass a bill to reform provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The article stated, “The regulatory relief provision in the Senate bill with the broadest impact may be the exemption from reporting requirements for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for banks that originate fewer than 500 home loans a year. The change will reduce compliance costs for roughly 5,400 institutions, or 85% of all banks, according to estimates from the Federal Reserve.”

Traiger added, “This will be a cost savings for smaller institutions. In addition to eliminating the responsibility to compile and report on HMDA, it also means that if there are any errors, there would be no obligation to resubmit the data, which also can be expensive.

The article also stated that HMDA compliance is expensive and banks that have not automated the process could see saving. However, Traiger noted that banks should continue to collect HMDA data for their own internal use. He added, “How are you going to monitor your performance if you don't have the data? Even if this data doesn’t have to be reported, most institutions will continue to maintain it in a machine-ready format to do monitoring of lending performance.”

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