On October 20, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the National Credit Union Administration (each, a Banking Agency, and collectively, the Banking Agencies) published a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would codify the Interagency Statement Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance issued by the Banking Agencies on September 11, 2018 (the 2018 Statement). The 2018 Statement provided that regulatory guidance did not have the force and effect of law and did not create binding obligations on the public.
Continue Reading Banking Agencies Issue Proposed Rule Addressing Role of Supervisory Guidance

In connection with the requirements set forth in Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Section 1071), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released on September 15, both a high-level summary (Summary) and a more detailed outline of the proposals it is considering (Outline) to implement Section 1071’s mandate that the CFPB require financial institutions to “compile, maintain, and submit to the [CFPB] certain data on applications for credit for women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses.”
Continue Reading CFPB Publishes Proposals to Implement Small Business Lending Data Collection Rulemaking

On December 3, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Credit Union Administration (the Banking Agencies) released interagency guidance related to the use of alternative data for purposes of underwriting credit (the Guidance).
Continue Reading US Banking Agencies Issue Statement on Alternative Date in Credit Underwriting

On April 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule revising CFTC Regulation 160.5. The amended rule implements the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act’s (FAST Act) December 2015 statutory amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) by providing an exception to the requirement that certain futures commission merchants, retail foreign exchange dealers, commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators, introducing brokers, major swap participants and swap dealers (each, a “covered person”) to provide annual privacy notices to their respective customers. (The obligation to provide an initial privacy notice is unchanged).
Continue Reading CFTC Approves Final Rule Providing Exception to Annual Privacy Notice Requirements

On March 4, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to seek information from the public about certain issues related to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. In particular, the CFPB issued the ANPR to obtain more information (1) about the relationship between an assessment of a consumer’s “ability to repay” and the terms of a PACE financing agreement, and (2) related to the extension of Truth In Lending Act (TILA) general civil liability to PACE transactions.
Continue Reading CFPB Releases Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing

On June 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), announced that it is seeking comments on proposed updates to its prepaid rule, “Prepaid Accounts under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E) and the Truth In Lending Act (Regulation Z)” (Prepaid Rule). The Prepaid Rule incorporates prepaid accounts under Regulations E and Z and was originally published in the Federal Register on November 22, 2016 (81 FR 83934) and amended on April 25, 2017 (82 FR 18975).
Continue Reading CFPB Seeks Comment on Proposed Changes to Prepaid Rule

On May 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) held a field hearing and issued a notice and request for information related to the small business lending market. Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require “financial institutions” (as defined in Section 1071) to compile, maintain and report information concerning credit applications made by women-owned, minority-owned and small businesses. The purpose of the data collection is to facilitate enforcement of fair lending laws and to enable communities, governmental entities and creditors to identify business and community development needs and opportunities of women-owned, minority-owned and small businesses.
Continue Reading CFPB Requests Information Regarding the Small Business Lending Market

On Thursday, June 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released proposed rules affecting the payday and short-term loan industry as part of its authority to prohibit the use of unfair or abusive acts and practices in connection with the provision of consumer financial products and services under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Continue Reading Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Releases Proposed Payday Rules

On May 18, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the Agencies) issued guidance outlining joint supervisory expectations regarding deposit-reconciliation practices that may be detrimental to customers.
Continue Reading Agencies Issue Guidance on Deposit-Reconciliation Practices