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Fed delays revised control framework until September
On March 31, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced that its control and divestiture proceedings final rule—set to take effect April 1—would be delayed for six months. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Fed revised the bank control framework to clarify the rules used to determine if a firm controls a bank pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act and the Home Owner’s Loan Act. The Fed stated that “[t]he delay will reduce operational burden and allow institutions to focus on current economic conditions” created by the Covid-19 pandemic. No changes were made to the final rule, which will now become effective on September 30.
FHFA final rule amends stress testing requirements
On March 24, the FHFA published a final rule amending its stress testing requirements consistent with changes made by section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The final rule adopts amendments proposed last December (covered by InfoBytes here) without change, increasing the minimum threshold for FHFA-regulated entities to conduct stress tests from $10 billion to $250 billion in total consolidated assets, removing the requirements for Federal Home Loan Banks to conduct stress tests, and reducing the number of stress test scenarios from three to two by removing the “adverse” scenario. The final rule took effect March 24.
Federal Reserve eases quarterly HMDA reporting
On March 31, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Division of Consumer and Community Affairs issued a letter regarding HMDA quarterly reporting requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic, which echoed the statement issued by the CFPB on March 26. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the CFPB’s HMDA reporting guidance stated that the Bureau will not cite or initiate enforcement actions against mortgage lenders that do not file quarterly HMDA reports. Similarly, the Fed will adopt the same approach in an effort to provide supervised institutions with flexibility to reallocate resources to serving customers, if needed. The statement reminds supervised institutions to continue to collect and record HMDA data for annual data submissions. Information as to when the quarterly reporting requirement will resume will be provided at a later date.
CFPB issues guidance to student loan borrowers on Covid-19 debt relief
On March 27, the CFPB issued guidance on the student loan provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Pursuant to the Act, borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their loan principal and interest payments paused until September 30. Borrowers do not need to take any action to have their payments suspended and interest will not accrue during this period. The CFPB also provided additional guidance on the impact on privately held student loans and federal loans held by commercial lenders, and provided information to help borrowers avoid student loan debt relief scams.
Federal agencies announce measures to encourage consumer and business lending
On March 27, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), the FDIC and the OCC jointly announced two measures the agencies have put in place to “support lending to households and businesses” during the Covid-19 pandemic. First, effective immediately, the agencies will “[a]llow[] early adoption of a new methodology on how certain banking organizations are required to measure counterparty credit risk derivatives contracts.” Second, the agencies will “[p]rovid[e] an optional extension of the regulatory capital transition for the new credit loss accounting standard.”
The first measure deals with the Standardized Approach for Calculating the Exposure Amount of Derivative Contracts (SA-CCR), which had an effective date of April 1. Allowing early adoption for the quarter ending on March 31 may “improve current market liquidity and smooth disruptions” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, the interim final rule for Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL)—the second measure—was released to minimize the effect of the “CECL accounting standard [on] regulatory capital.” In addition to the transition period of three years already available, the interim final rule—Regulatory Capital Rule: Revised Transition of the Current Expected Credit Losses Methodology for Allowances—provides up to two more years to “mitigate the estimated cumulative regulatory capital effects” of CECL. Comments on the interim final rule must be submitted by May 11. (See OCC News Release 2020-42 here and FDIC press release here.)
FDIC requests 2019 diversity self-assessments through new automated portal
On March 23, the FDIC issued FIL-23-2020 to announce a request from the agency’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion for 2019 diversity self-assessments from FDIC-regulated financial institutions in accordance with Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Financial institutions with 100 or more employees should refer to the FIL for instructions on completing the voluntary self-assessment. The FDIC strongly encourages financial institutions to use the new automated portal: Diversity Self-Assessment of FDIC Regulated Financial Institutions when completing self-assessments, as it allows for multiple authorized users and the ability to view previous submissions, as well as provides additional resources for participants. Self-assessments are due May 31.
FDIC updates guidance on protecting banks and consumers
On March 27, the FDIC announced an update to guidance it issued on March 16 regarding “steps to protect banks and consumers and to continue operations.” Among the updates, the agency (i) extended telework for all FDIC employees from March 30 until at least April 12; (ii) expanded the period of time the agency will conduct “[s]upervisory and other FDIC activities” off-site through April 12; and (iii) encouraged institutions to communicate with their “Examiner-in-Charge or Regional Director” if they anticipate delays in responding to “normal supervisory requests.”
FDIC, OCC, NCUA identify essential critical infrastructure workers during Covid-19
On March 26, the FDIC issued FIL-25-2020 stating that the financial services sector is a “critical infrastructure” during the Covid-19 pandemic pursuant to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) March 19 guidance. The guidance is intended to help state, local, and industry partners identify critical infrastructure sectors and essential workers in order to ensure continuity of critical functions. The FIL advises company leadership to provide workers with documentation identifying them as critical infrastructure workers who need “to travel inside restricted areas in order to support critical infrastructure.”
On March 25, the OCC issued similar guidance pursuant to CISA’s guidance. Bulletin 2020-23 encourages essential critical infrastructure workers to maintain normal work schedules during the Covid-19 pandemic, and offers guidance for banks concerning workers who may need to move within and between restricted areas. Essential critical infrastructure workers include those who are needed to: (i) “process and maintain systems for processing financial transactions and services (e.g., payment, clearing and settlement; wholesale funding; insurance services; and capital markets activities)”; (ii) “provide consumer access to banking and lending services,” such as ATMs and armored cash carriers; and (iii) support financial institutions (e.g., staffing data and security operations centers). The workers also include key third party providers who deliver core services. The OCC advises banks to, among other things, update business continuity plans and provide documentation to workers detailing work-related travel.
The NCUA also sent a letter to member boards of directors, chief executive officers, chief information officers, and chief information security officers identifying essential critical infrastructure workers pursuant to CISA’s guidance. Updates to Covid-19 NCUA resources are available here.
Banking regulators urge small-dollar lending during Covid-19 crisis
On March 26, the FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, CFPB, NCUA, and OCC issued a joint statement encouraging banks, savings associations, and credit unions to offer responsible, small-dollar loans to consumers and small businesses affected by Covid-19. The agencies recognize that small-dollar lending can play an important role in meeting credit needs during this time period, and recommend that financial institutions offer loans “through a variety of structures including open-end lines of credit, closed-end installment loans, or appropriately structured single payment loans.” For borrowers experiencing unexpected circumstances who cannot repay a loan as structured, financial institutions are “further encouraged to consider workout strategies designed to help borrowers to repay the principal of the loan while mitigating the need to re-borrow.” All loans, however, should be offered in a manner “consistent with safe and sound practices” that “provides fair treatment of consumers, and complies with applicable statutes and regulations, including consumer protection laws.”
CFPB outlines regulatory flexibility related to Covid-19
On March 26, the CFPB announced several regulatory flexibility measures to help financial companies work with consumers affected by Covid-19. Specifically, the measures postpone certain industry data collections on Bureau-related rules. These include:
- HMDA. Quarterly information reporting by certain mortgage lenders as required under HMDA and Regulation C will not be expected during this time. However, entities should continue collecting and recording HMDA data in anticipation of making annual submissions. Entities will be provided information by the Bureau on when and how to commence new quarterly HMDA data submissions. (See statement here.)
- TILA. During this time, annual submissions required under TILA, Regulation Z, and Regulation E “concerning agreements between credit card issuers and institutions of higher education; quarterly submission of consumer credit card agreements; collection of certain credit card price and availability information; and submission of prepaid account agreements and related information” will not be expected. (See statement here.)
- Section 1071. A survey seeking information from financial institutions on the cost of compliance in connection with pending rulemaking on Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act has been postponed. As previously covered by InfoBytes, under the terms of a stipulated settlement resolving a 2019 lawsuit that sought an order compelling the Bureau to issue a final rule implementing Section 1071, the Bureau agreed to outline a proposal for collecting data and studying discrimination in small-business lending.
- PACE Financing. A survey of firms providing Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to consumers for the purposes of implementing Section 307 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act has been postponed.
- Supervision and Enforcement. The Bureau’s policy statement provides “that it does not intend to cite in an examination or initiate an enforcement action against any entity for failure to submit to the Bureau” specified information related to credit card and prepaid accounts. However, the Bureau’s announcement advises entities to “maintain records sufficient to allow them to make delayed submissions pursuant to Bureau guidance.” With respect to operational challenges facing institutions due to Covid-19, the Bureau states that it will work with institutions when scheduling examinations and other supervisory activities to minimize disruption and burden. “[W]hen conducting examinations and other supervisory activities and in determining whether to take enforcement action, the Bureau will consider the circumstances that entities may face as a result of the [Covid-19] pandemic and will be sensitive to good-faith efforts demonstrably designed to assist consumers,” the announcement states.