Examinations
Buckley provides ‘clear and concise advice’ to clients engaged in CFPB examinations.Legal 500
Practice Overview
Buckley has extensive knowledge and experience in advising financial service companies in regulatory examinations. Our team helps clients navigate every stage of the examination process, including advice pertaining to pre-examination preparation, responses to information and document requests, strategic advice and legal analysis of preliminary findings by a supervisory team, and assistance with myriad post-examination matters.
Our attorneys advise clients on examinations by all of the federal prudential regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as well as state bank regulators. In addition, we have advised clients on nearly 100 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) examinations. Clients benefit from Buckley’s firmwide knowledge regarding the multitude of legal, regulatory, and operational issues that arise in the examination process. This experience allows us to offer practical tips for handling issues that arise in examinations to help clients prepare for and mitigate areas of potential regulatory risk.
Our team advises clients on examination-related tasks, including the preparation and coordination of responses to examination requests and inquiries. We conduct gap analyses and examination readiness reviews in order to help clients better understand their current state of anticipated preparedness for an examination and potential compliance weaknesses, including examination management training with key personnel.
We also assist with responses to “first day letters” and supplemental information requests, including the compilation and preparation of documents, data, and other responsive information. Our attorneys advise clients on the most effective approach for requesting modifications to or seeking clarification of requests, and more generally how to interact with regulators throughout the examination process to help achieve the most favorable outcome possible.
Our lawyers provide legal analysis to clients who are engaging in discussions with their regulator about a potential violation to help fend off adverse examination findings. We prepare formal responses to reports of examination, Matters Requiring Attention (MRA), Potential Action and Request for Response Letters (PARR), and 15-day letters. This includes strategic advice, legal analysis and drafting, oversight of statistical analyses and file reviews, and direct interaction with supervisory and enforcement personnel at the agencies. We frequently participate in board of director and executive management meetings to discuss potentially adverse examination results, describe the examination and enforcement processes, and explain the potential ramifications of adverse examination findings, including the impact on safety and soundness ratings, CAMELS ratings, Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and compliance ratings, and restrictions on the ability to engage in future branching and acquisitions.
Buckley provides ‘clear and concise advice’ to clients engaged in CFPB examinations.Legal 500
Articles
"The Ten Commandments of cross-examination revisited: Should you sin to win when the case is criminal?" by Hank Asbill (American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine)
Irving Younger's lecture on cross-examination, which I first heard in the mid-1970s, is like the delivery of the slightly more famous Ten Commandments by Moses at Mt. Sinai -- accepted on faith and followed by nearly all. Many litigators keep their notes of that lecture close at hand and review...
Articles"OCC Improves But Unlevels CRA Ratings" By Warren W. Traiger and Caroline K. Eisner (Banking Exchange)
On Oct. 12, the Comptroller’s Office revised its Policies and Procedures Manual to instruct examiners to limit the number of Community Reinvestment Act rating downgrades based on evidence that a bank has violated other laws. The revision is a boon to national banks and federal savings associations...
ArticlesThe Butterfly Effect: eDiscovery in Government Investigations and Why Small Tweaks May Have Great Impacts
In the context of civil litigation, the rules governing eDiscovery may not be crystal clear (especially in light of the recent amendments to the Federal Rules), but at least there is ample guidance available. Counsel can perform simple research and identify troves of articles addressing how to...
Articles
News & Blogs
Oklahoma permits inter-agency information-sharing agreements
On April 22, the Oklahoma governor signed HB 1387 to permit the state’s Administrator of Consumer Credit to enter into certain cooperative, coordinating, information-sharing agreements with other agencies in place of conducting a separate examination or investigation. According to the Act, the...
InfoBytesOCC to clarify OREO regulations
On April 24, the OCC published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and request for comment on a proposal to clarify and to streamline its other real estate owned (OREO) regulations for supervised national banks and to apply the same regulatory framework to federal savings associations...
InfoBytesKraninger’s focus is preventing consumer harm, clarifying “abusive”
On April 17, Kathy Kraninger, Director of the CFPB, spoke before the Bipartisan Policy Center where she reiterated the Bureau’s focus on prevention of harm and announced a symposium that will explore the meaning of “abusive acts or practices” under Section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act. In her remarks...
InfoBytesCFPB and Federal Reserve update HMDA examination procedures; CFPB updates ECOA baseline review procedures
On April 1, the CFPB and the Federal Reserve Board (Federal Reserve) issued revisions to the HMDA examination procedures covering data collected since January 1, 2018, under the HMDA amendments issued by the Bureau in October 2015 and August 2017, as well as section 104(a) of the Economic Growth,...
InfoBytesOCC announces interagency examination procedures for prepaid accounts rule
On March 26, the OCC released Bulletin 2019-16 , which announces that the FFIEC Task Force on Consumer Compliance developed new interagency examination procedures to reflect the amendments to Regulations Z and E under the CFPB’s Prepaid Accounts Rule (covered by InfoBytes here ), which go into...
InfoBytesCFPB updates payday section of the Supervision and Examinations Manual
In March, the CFPB updated its examination procedures for short-term, small-dollar lending (payday lending) in its Supervision and Examinations Manual . The procedures are comprised of modules and each examination will cover one more module. Prior to using the procedures, examiners will complete a...
InfoBytesOCC updates recovery planning threshold in Comptroller’s Handbook
On March 15, the OCC announced an update to the Recovery Planning booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook . Among other things, the revised booklet explains the purpose of effective recovery planning and provides guidance for OCC examiners to use when assessing the “appropriateness and adequacy of [a...
InfoBytesCFPB updates Supervision and Examinations Manual
In February, the CFPB released an updated version of the Supervision and Examination Manual , which includes changes to the examination and targeted reviews section of the manual. The Bureau noted that the purpose of a risk-focused review is to direct Bureau resources toward the areas with higher...
InfoBytesFDIC releases interagency exam procedures for CFPB’s Prepaid Rule
On February 22, the FDIC issued FIL-9-2019 , which announces revisions to interagency examination procedures for evaluating compliance with the CFPB’s Prepaid Accounts Rule. The Rule was originally finalized in October 2016 and expands coverage under Regulation E to provide consumers, among other...
InfoBytesOCC announces adoption of 18-month examination cycle final rule
On January 17, the OCC announced , together with the Federal Reserve Board and the FDIC, the final rule amending regulations governing eligibility for the 18-month on-site examination cycle, pursuant to the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The final rule was...
InfoBytes
Press Releases & Announcements
Daniel P. Stipano Receives Leadership Award From Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists
The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) awarded Buckley Sandler partner Daniel P. Stipano the 2017 AML/CTF Leadership in Government award at the ACAMS MoneyLaundering.com 22nd Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference on April 4, 2017, in Hollywood...
AnnouncementsFormer Deputy Chief Counsel for Office of the Comptroller Joins BuckleySandler
WASHINGTON, DC (January 3, 2017) – BuckleySandler LLP, a premier financial services, government enforcement and litigation law firm, announced today that former Deputy Chief Counsel for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Daniel P. Stipano has joined the firm as a Partner in its...
Press ReleasesLegal 500 Recognizes Four Practice Areas and 14 Attorneys at BuckleySandler in 2016 Rankings
BuckleySandler LLP has again been noted as one of the nation’s top law firms, with recognition of four practice areas by The Legal 500 in its 2016 rankings: Financial Services: Litigation Financial Services: Regulatory Technology: Data Protection and Privacy White-Collar Criminal Defense In...
Press ReleasesBuckley Sandler Establishes International Presence With Opening of London Office
WASHINGTON, DC / LONDON, ENGLAND (September 8, 2014) – Buckley Sandler LLP , a leading financial services and criminal & civil enforcement defense law firm, announced today the opening of its first international office, located in London. James T. Parkinson has relocated from the firm’s...
Press Releases
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Recent Blog Posts
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April 26, 2019
Oklahoma permits inter-agency information-sharing agreements
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April 26, 2019
OCC to clarify OREO regulations
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April 19, 2019
Kraninger’s focus is preventing consumer harm, clarifying “abusive”
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April 5, 2019
CFPB and Federal Reserve update HMDA examination procedures; CFPB updates ECOA baseline review procedures
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March 28, 2019
OCC announces interagency examination procedures for prepaid accounts rule