Jeffrey M. Werthan

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On April 19, the Federal Reserve Board implemented new procedures for examiners to conduct off-site loan reviews for community and small regional banks under the Board’s jurisdiction. The Board is offering this option as part of its ongoing efforts “to improve efficiency and provide burden reduction while maintaining quality supervision.”
Continue Reading Federal Reserve to Expand Off-Site Examinations

On April 6, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rescinded Financial Institution Letter (FIL) 50-2009 entitled “Enhanced Supervisory Procedures for Newly Insured FDIC-Supervised Depository Institutions.” The FIL, among other measures, had extended the de novo period for newly organized, state nonmember institutions from three to seven years for examinations, capital maintenance and other requirements. It remains to be seen whether the rescission will have an effect on the number of new bank applications filed, which have dwindled to near zero the last few years.
Continue Reading FDIC Rescinds De Novo Time Period Extension

On March 21, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (collectively, the “regulators”) issued new guidance related to the application of customer identification (CIP) program requirements to prepaid card customers. The regulators issued the guidance in connection with their authority under Section 326 of the US Patriot Act.
Continue Reading Regulators Issue New Guidance Related to Certain Prepaid Cards

On February 19, federal banking agencies increased the number of small banks and savings associations eligible for an 18-month examination cycle rather than a 12-month cycle. The changes are intended to reduce regulatory compliance costs for smaller institutions, while still maintaining safety and soundness protections. Under the interim final rules, qualifying well-capitalized and well-managed banks and savings associations with less than $1 billion in total assets are now be eligible for an 18-month examination cycle. Previously, firms with less than $500 million in total assets could be eligible for the extended examination cycle. The examination cycle changes may also apply to qualifying well-capitalized and well-managed US branches and agencies of foreign banks with less than $1 billion in total assets.
Continue Reading Federal Banking Agencies Expand Number of Banks Qualifying for 18-Month Examination Cycle

On February 17, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved a proposal for recordkeeping requirements for FDIC-insured institutions with a large number of deposit accounts to facilitate rapid payment of insured deposits to customers if those institutions were to fail. The proposed rule would apply to insured depository institutions with more than 2 million deposit accounts. Under the proposal, these institutions would generally be required to maintain complete and accurate data on each depositor. Further, the institutions would be required to ensure that their information technology systems are capable of calculating the amount of insured money for each depositor within 24 hours of a failure. The FDIC is not proposing or considering making these requirements applicable to smaller institutions, including community banks.
Continue Reading FDIC Approves Proposal on Deposit Recordkeeping Requirements in Large Bank Failures

On February 7, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) jointly released the economic scenarios that will be used by certain financial institutions with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion for stress tests, as required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
Continue Reading Federal Banking Agencies Release Economic Scenarios for 2016 Stress Testing

On February 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the “Installment Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. This revised booklet updates and replaces the “Installment Loans” booklet issued in March 1990 (and examination procedures issued in March 1998). The revised booklet also replaces section 217, “Consumer Lending,” issued in January 2000 as part of the former Office of Thrift Supervision Examination Handbook, for examining federal savings associations. The revised booklet incorporates national bank and federal savings association statutes and regulations, guidance and examination procedures. The booklet also provides updated guidance to examiners on assessing and managing the risks associated with installment lending activities.
Continue Reading Revised Comptroller’s Handbook Installment Lending Booklet

On February 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the “Country Risk Management” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. This revised booklet replaces the booklet of the same title issued in March 2008. This booklet is prepared for use by OCC examiners in assessing a bank’s exposure to country risk and includes procedures to evaluate the adequacy of the bank’s country risk management framework. Country risk management topics include board and management oversight; policies and procedures; country exposure reporting system; country risk analysis process; country risk ratings; country exposure limits; monitoring country conditions; stress testing and integrated scenario planning; and independent risk management, internal controls, and audit.
Continue Reading Revised Comptroller’s Handbook Country Risk Management Booklet

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued its final policy on its issuance of no-action letters on February 18, which is intended to further objectives under section 1021 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act). Under the Policy, Bureau staff would, “in its discretion, issue no-action letters (NALs) to specific applicants in instances involving innovative financial products or services that promise substantial consumer benefit where there is substantial uncertainty whether or how specific provisions of statutes implemented or regulations issued by the Bureau would be applied . . .” According to the Bureau, a NAL would advise the recipient that, subject to its stated limitations, the staff has no present intention to recommend initiation of an enforcement or supervisory action against the requester with respect to a specified matter. However, NALs would be subject to modification or revocation at any time at the discretion of the staff, and may be conditioned on particular undertakings by the applicant with respect to product or service usage and data-sharing with the Bureau. Further, NALs would be nonbinding on the Bureau, and would not bind courts or other actors who might challenge a NAL recipient’s product or service, such as other regulators or parties in litigation.
Continue Reading CFPB Issues Final Policy on No-Action Letters