InfoBytes Blog
Filter
Subscribe to our InfoBytes Blog weekly newsletter and other publications for news affecting the financial services industry.
NYDFS to ease restrictions on sharing confidential supervisory information
On November 14, NYDFS announced a proposed regulation, which would allow regulated entities to share confidential supervisory information with legal counsel or with independent auditors without obtaining prior written approval from the agency. Currently, entities are required to receive prior written approval for each instance in which they want to share confidential supervisory information with hired legal counsel or independent auditors. The proposal would allow a regulated entity to share this information without prior written approval from NYDFS as long as there is a written agreement between the parties, in which the hired legal counsel or independent auditor agrees to, among other things, (i) only use the information for the purposes of legal representation or auditing services; (ii) not to disclose the information to its employees except on a “need to know” basis; (iii) promptly notify NYDFS of any requests for the information; and (iv) maintain records for all information disclosed pursuant to the regulation. Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 60 days following publication in the state register on November 27.
CFPB releases semi-annual report to Congress
On October 8, the CFPB issued its Dodd-Frank mandated semi-annual report to Congress covering the Bureau’s work from October 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. In presenting the report, Director Kathy Kraninger stressed that the Bureau will continue to use the tools provided by Congress to protect consumers, including “vigorous and even-handed enforcement” with a focus on prevention of harm. Kraninger also reiterated her commitment “to strengthening the consumer financial marketplace by providing financial institutions clear ‘rules of the road’ that allow them to offer consumers a range of high-quality, innovative financial services and products.” Among other things, the report analyzed significant problems consumers face when obtaining consumer financial products and services, assessed actions taken by state attorneys general or state regulators relating to federal consumer financial law, and provided a recap of supervisory and enforcement activities.
While the Bureau did not adopt any significant final rules or orders during the preceding year, it did issue two significant notices of proposed rulemaking relating to certain payday lending requirements under the agency’s 2017 final rule covering “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans.” (See previous InfoBytes coverage here.) The Bureau also adopted several “less significant rules,” and engaged in significant initiatives concerning, among other things, (i) the disclosure of loan-level HMDA data; (ii) Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy proposed rulemaking; (iii) an assessment of significant rules, including the Remittance Rule, the Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule, and the RESPA Mortgage Servicing Rule; (iv) trial disclosure programs; (v) innovation policies related to no-action letters and product sandbox and trial disclosure programs; and (vi) suspicious activity reports on elder financial exploitation.
OCC outlines fiscal year 2020 supervision priorities
On October 1, the OCC’s Committee on Bank Supervision released its bank supervision operation plan (Plan) for fiscal year 2020. The Plan outlines the agency’s supervision priorities and specifically highlights the following supervisory focus areas: (i) cybersecurity and operational resiliency; (ii) Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering compliance; (iii) commercial and retail credit loan underwriting; (iv) effects of changing interest rates on bank activities and risk exposures; (v) preparation necessary for the current expected credit losses accounting standard, as well the potential phase-out of the London Interbank Offering Rate; and (vi) technological innovation and implementation.
The annual plan guides the development of supervisory strategies for individual national banks, federal savings associations, federal branches, federal agencies, service providers, and agencies of foreign banking organizations. Updates about these priorities will be provided in the OCC’s Semiannual Risk Perspective.
CFPB issues summer 2019 Supervisory Highlights
On September 13, the CFPB released its summer 2019 Supervisory Highlights, which outlines its supervisory and enforcement actions in the areas of automobile loan origination, credit card account management, debt collection, furnishing, and mortgage origination. The findings of the report cover examinations that generally were completed between December 2018 and March 2019. Highlights of the examination findings include:
- Auto loan origination. The Bureau noted that one or more examinations found that guaranteed asset protection (GAP) products were sold to consumers with low loan-to-value (LTV) loans, resulting in those consumers purchasing a product that was not beneficial to them. The Bureau concluded these sales were an abusive practice, as “the lenders took unreasonable advantage of the consumers’ lack of understanding of the material risks, costs, or conditions of the product.”
- Credit card account management. The Bureau found several issues with credit card account servicing, including violations of Regulation Z for failing to clearly and conspicuously provide disclosures required by triggering terms in online advertisements and for offsetting consumers’ credit card debt against funds that the consumers had on deposit with the issuers without sufficient indication that the consumer intended to grant a security interest in those funds.
- Debt collection. The Bureau noted violations of the FDCPA’s prohibition on falsely representing the amount due when debt collectors claimed and collected interest that was not authorized by the underlying contracts between the debt collectors and the creditors.
- Credit information furnishing. The Bureau found multiple violations of the FCRA, including furnishers failing to complete dispute investigations within the required time period and failing to promptly send corrections or updates to all applicable credit reporting agencies after a determination that the information was no longer accurate.
- Mortgage origination. The Bureau noted that creditors had violated Regulation Z by disclosing inaccurate APRs for closed-end reverse mortgages and also by using a unit-period of one month instead of one year to calculate the total annual loan cost (TALC) rate and the future value of all advances, leading to inaccurate TALC disclosures.
The report notes that in response to most examination findings, the companies have taken, or are taking, remedial and corrective actions, including by identifying and compensating impacted consumers and updating their policies and procedures to prevent future violations.
Lastly, the report also highlights the Bureau’s recently issued rules and guidance.
FDIC updates Consumer Compliance Examination Manual
On September 10, the FDIC announced updates to its Consumer Compliance Examination Manual (CEM). The CEM includes supervisory policies and examination procedures for evaluating financial institutions’ compliance with federal consumer protection laws and regulations. The recent updates include, among other things, (i) changes to the sections and questions of the Fair Lending Scope and Conclusions Memorandum; and (ii) incorporation of the private flood insurance final rule’s provisions pertaining to the mandatory and discretionary acceptance of private flood insurance by financial institutions.
CFPB updates auto finance section of the Supervision and Examinations Manual
On August 28, the CFPB updated its examination procedures for automobile finance in its Supervision and Examinations Manual. The procedures are comprised of seven modules and each examination will cover one or more modules. Prior to using the procedures, examiners will complete a risk assessment and examination scope memorandum, which will assist in determining which of the seven modules the exam will cover: (i) company business model; (ii) advertising and marketing; (iii) application and origination; (iv) payment processing and account maintenance; (v) collections, debt restructuring, repossession, and accounts in bankruptcy; (vi) credit reporting, information sharing, and privacy; and (vii) examiner conclusions and wrap-up.
FDIC adds to risk management exam policies
On August 27, the FDIC issued Financial Institution Letter FIL-47-2019 announcing an update to its Risk Management Manual of Examination Policies to incorporate a new section titled “Risk-Focused, Forward-Looking Safety and Soundness Supervision.” According to the letter, the new section covers the FDIC’s “long-standing examination philosophy” that the focus of supervision should be on areas that present the greatest risk. The letter notes that the risk-focused approach is “forward-looking,” with the intent to look beyond the condition of an institution at a specific point in time to just how well the institution will be able to respond to a changing market and assist examiners in identifying and correcting “weaknesses in conditions or practices before they impact an institution’s financial condition.”
Federal banking agencies and FinCEN issue statement on risk-focused BSA/AML examinations
On July 22, the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, NCUA, and the OCC along with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), released a joint statement to improve transparency of their risk-focused approach to Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) supervision. The statement outlines common practices for assessing a bank’s risk profile, including (i) leveraging available information, including internal BSA/AML risk assessments, independent audits, and results from previous examinations; (ii) contacting banks between examinations or before finalizing the scope of an examination; and (iii) considering the bank’s ability to identify, measure, monitor, and control risks. Examiners will use the information from the risk assessments to scope and plan the examination, as well as to evaluate the adequacy of the bank’s BSA/AML compliance program. The statement notes that the extent of examination activities needed to evaluate a bank’s BSA/AML compliance program, “generally depends on a bank’s risk profile and the quality of its risk management processes.”
Kraninger: CFPB's focus is preventing consumer harm, and state and federal collaboration
On July 18, Kathy Kraninger, Director of the CFPB, spoke before the Exchequer Club where she discussed the Bureau’s strategy for preventing consumer harm. Kraninger discussed her ongoing “listening tour”—in which she has met with and received feedback from “more than 600 consumer groups, consumers, state and local government officials, military personnel, academics, non-profits, faith leaders, financial institutions, and former and current Bureau officials and staff”—and commented on ways in which feedback received from these stakeholders has helped shape her approach. Kraininger highlighted four “tools” that the Bureau has at its disposal to execute its mission: education, rulemaking, supervision, and enforcement.
- Education. According to Kraninger, the Bureau’s focus reflects a “consumer-centric definition of financial well-being” designed to empower consumers when protecting their own interests and choosing the appropriate financial products and services. Specifically, Kraninger referred to the Bureau’s “Misadventures in Money Management” financial education tool for active-duty servicemembers, as well as its “Start Small, Save Up” initiative, which is designed to increase consumers’ ability to handle urgent expenses.
- Rulemaking. Kraninger commented that the Bureau will continue to comply with Congressional mandates to promulgate rules or address specific issues through rulemaking. However, where the Bureau has discretion, it “will focus on preventing consumer harm by maximizing informed consumer choice, and prohibiting acts or practices that undermine the ability of consumers to choose the products and services that are best for them.” Kraninger spoke of the need for increased transparency and deregulatory efforts and highlighted a recent change to the comment period for the Bureau’s Payday and Debt Collection rulemakings, as well as the consideration of potential changes to the existing Remittances Rule based on responses to a call for evidence.
- Supervision. Kraninger stressed that “[s]upervision is the heart of the agency,” as it helps to prevent violations of laws and regulations from happening in the first place. The Bureau’s approach will focus on ensuring supervision is effective, efficient, and consistent, and will explore ways to incentivize institutions to have in place good compliance management systems. Kraninger noted that, as chair of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, she will focus on coordinating and collaborating with the other agencies to advance consumer protections.
- Enforcement. Kraninger noted that the Bureau will continue to enforce against bad actors that do not comply with the law, as “[a] purposeful enforcement regime can foster compliance, deter unlawful conduct, help prevent consumer harm, and right wrongs.” She referenced the Bureau’s history of collaborating with state and federal partners on enforcement actions, and stressed her commitment to ensuring enforcement matters are handled as expeditiously as possible. Kraninger also specifically drew attention to the Bureau’s collaborative approach in its recent advisory on elder financial exploitation (previously covered by InfoBytes here).
GAO recommends CFPB define supervisory expectations for CRAs
On July 16, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) submitted a report to the ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services recommending that the CFPB improve communications to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) and furnishers about the Bureau’s supervisory expectations. Specifically, the report—based on a CRA performance audit conducted by GAO from July 2018 to July 2019—presents two recommendations to the CFPB director on communicating expectations to CRAs concerning: (i) “reasonable procedures for assuring maximum possible accuracy of consumer report information;” and (ii) “reasonable investigations of consumer disputes.” According to the report, there are various causes for consumer report inaccuracies: errors in the data collected by CRAs and data not being matched to the correct consumer by CRAs. While the Bureau has “generally focused on assessing compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requirements,” GAO notes that the CFPB “has not defined its expectations for how CRAs can comply with key statutory requirements.” For instance, under the FCRA, CRAs must follow reasonable procedures for ensuring maximum possible accuracy and reasonably investigate consumer disputes. However, although the CFPB has identified deficiencies concerning these requirements in its CRA examinations, the Bureau “has not defined its expectations—such as by communicating information on appropriate practices—for how CRAs can comply with these requirements.” Therefore, GAO concluded, there exist opportunities for the Bureau to improve its oversight of CRAs. The CFPB neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO’s recommendations, and stressed that “it has made oversight of the consumer reporting market a top priority and that its supervisory reviews of CRAs have focused on evaluating their systems for assuring the accuracy of data used to prepare consumer reports.” The Bureau also commented on CRAs’ significant advances in promoting greater accuracy.