InfoBytes Blog
CFPB proposes collection of small business lending data
On September 1, the CFPB released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and request for public comment on a proposed rule to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the agency to collect and disclose data on lending to women and minority-owned small businesses. The NPRM would create a new subpart B to existing Regulation B, the implementing regulation for ECOA, in order to increase transparency in the lending marketplace. Covered financial institutions would be required to collect and report to the Bureau a broad set of data points relating to applications for several small business credit products with the stated goal of facilitating the enforcement of fair lending laws and enabling the identification of business and community development needs and opportunities for women-owned, minority-owned, and other small businesses.
The NPRM defines a covered “financial institution” as an entity that meets a specific origination threshold where at least 25 “covered credit transactions” are originated to small businesses in each of the two preceding calendar years. A “covered credit transaction” under the NPRM would include transactions that meet the definition of business credit under Regulation B, as well as loans, lines of credit, credit cards, merchant cash advances, credit transactions for agricultural purposes, and transactions covered by HMDA. The definition of a small business would be one that had less than $5 million in gross annual revenue for the preceding fiscal year. Additionally, the NPRM defines a “covered application” as “an oral or written request for a covered credit transaction that is made in accordance with procedures used by a financial institution for the type of credit requested.” Data points that covered financial institutions would be required to collect on a calendar-year basis to be reported by June 1 of the following year are also provided.
The Bureau proposes that an eventual final rule would become effective 90 days after publication in the Federal Register; however, compliance would not be required until approximately 18 months after publication. Additionally, the Bureau proposes certain transitional provisions that would allow covered financial institutions to begin collecting data prior to the compliance date and would permit covered financial institutions to “use either the two calendar years immediately preceding the effective date or the second and third years preceding the compliance date to determine coverage.” (See also the Bureau’s summary on the NPRM here.) Comments on the NPRM will be received for 90 days following publication in the Federal Register.
“This data will be used to support business and community development and foster fair lending,” acting Director Dave Uejio noted in a statement following the announcement of the NPRM. He added that the “rule is about providing greater transparency into which small businesses get credit and which ones do not.”
A Buckley Special Alert is forthcoming.