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NS3 keynote touts importance of culture, value
Posted Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
Teaching is not the same as education and slowing down could be the key to efficiency, according to Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Chairman Chris George, the founder, president and CEO of CMG Financial, Inc.
Delivering the opening keynote address to attendees of the 2019 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, George stressed the importance of creating a company culture that promotes education in all forms, creating and sustaining value and avoiding wasting time, in part, by realizing that faster is not always better.
Read on to learn more.
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Analysis: Patch expiration bad for GSEs, good for non-banks
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Although the expiration of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule allowing certain loans with high debt-to-income ratios to be granted qualified mortgage status would be credit negative for the government-sponsored enterprises, Moody’s found that letting the “QM patch” expire could be beneficial to some non-bank entities.
The analytics firm explained how the patch’s expiration, absent interim regulatory measures to improve the QM framework, could be bad for some entities but present opportunities for others.
Learn more about the firm’s findings.
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RBC rule delay subject of NCUA adequacy debate
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has been in the middle of several clashes between credit unions and community banks over the years centering on proposals intended to ease regulatory burdens faced by entities under its purview.
In response to its recent proposal to delay implementation of its 2015 and 2018 risk-based capital (RBC) rules by one year (to Jan. 1, 2022), advocates for both segments of the financial sector wrote to the agency urging it to take different actions going forward.
Learn more about arguments on both sides.
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Bankers oppose ILC application by ‘Amazon of Japan’
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Community bankers recently voiced concerns over a charter application from Japan’s eCommerce company, Rakuten, stressing long-held concerns about issues related to competition and regulatory oversight presented by the prospect of non-bank charters which trade advocates believe must be addressed.
Independent Community Bankers of America’s Rebeca Romero Rainey and the American Bankers Association’s Rob Nichols detailed their opposition to the company’s charter application.
Find out more details about the situation.
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Agencies complete OLA assessments, extend deadlines
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) recently completed their 2018 resolution plan evaluations for several systemically-important foreign and domestic banks and extended the next deadline for those firms to submit their strategies for rapid, orderly liquidation in the event of a failure.
The extensions are intended to afford the banks additional preparation time to account for pending amendments to resolution planning rules, affecting domestic banks and foreign banks with U.S. operations with more than $100 billion in total consolidated assets.
Find out more details about the plan assessments and deadline extensions.
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Trades to CFPB: Replace GSE patch before expiration
Posted Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
After years of advocating for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to extend, improve or make permanent provisions exempting certain loans from its Ability-To-Repay/Qualified Mortgage (ATR/QM) Rule, industry and consumers advocacy groups reacted to seeing the wheels of change kick into gear in that regard.
To preserve credit access and avoid market disruption, multiple groups are calling for the bureau to implement a replacement for the exemption.
Learn more about what industry and consumer advocates are saying on the matter.
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CFPB, NYAG settle UDAAP charges with debt collectors
Posted Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York Attorney General settled with multiple debt collection operations for illegally inflating debt amounts represented to collect more from consumers than they actually owed.
As with numerous settlements issued by the CFPB under Director Kathy Kraninger, the debt collectors need only comply with a specific settlement provision to waive their full disgorgement and penalty obligations to the bureau.
Learn more about the charges and the terms of the settlement.
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ICBA to Fed: Level the real-time payment playing field
Posted Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
To avoid an environment where community banks are left behind by larger institutions in the real-time payment process, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) urged the Federal Reserve to carve out a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) role in delivering real-time payments.
The organization’s letter coincided with the introduction of legislation seeking to require the Fed to implement its own real-time payments system, in part, to enable small institutions and entrepreneurs to compete on a more even playing field.
Find out what points she called out in her letter.
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CFPB updates diversity, inclusion strategic plan
Posted Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recently updated its strategic plan for promoting diversity and inclusion in its own workforce, its third-party suppliers and the entities it regulates.
The updated plan identifies impact areas and actions intended to drive continued innovation to advance diversity and inclusion.
Learn more about the updated plan, which the CFPB said will cover the period of fiscal years 2019-2022.
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LenderClose expands workforce to meet demand
Posted Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
Fintech startup LenderClose recently announced that it is adding three new employees to meet growing client demand from community lenders nationwide. The Des Moines-based company has added more than 15 employees in the first half of 2019, according to a press release.
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Senate considers cannabis banking pros, cons
Posted Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
Financial services and cannabis industry advocates have urged Congress to act in eliminating legal risks associated with financing marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) by passing the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act.
The Senate Banking Committee recently heard testimony by multiple financial and legal experts, arguing that the question of whether to provide a safe harbor for financial institutions which finance MRBs is a matter of public safety.
Learn what arguments were presented during the hearing.
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NCUA approves appraisal threshold hike, trades react
Posted Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) voted 2-1 during its latest board meeting to approve a final rule to quadruple the threshold for mandatory appraisals on non-residential, rural real estate loans.
The news is welcome to credit union advocates but has led to push back from community bankers, whom have been critical of numerous moves by NCUA to ease compliance burdens for credit unions.
Learn more about the implications of the agency’s most recent regulatory moves.
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USDA amends single-family loan program
Posted Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
Non-banks and warehouse lenders could benefit from a new final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) intended to ease regulatory costs non-depository entities face associated with interim construction financing.
The rule will amend the current regulation for the Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program.
Read on to learn more details.
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FDIC rule would ease MBS
Posted Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its securitization safe harbor rule. The proposed rule is meant to ease the reporting and disclosure requirements imposed by Reg AB to encourage certain mortgage-backed securitizations.
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CFPB: Increase SARs, reporting on elderly financial abuse
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
In light of findings about the prevalence of elder financial abuse and relative lack of reporting among institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced that it is advising financial institutions to be more proactive about alerting the appropriate authorities to instances of possible exploitation against the elderly.
The bureau noted that less than one-third of Suspicious Activity Reports examined for its February report on elderly financial exploitation indicated that the reporting entity alerted first-responders.
Learn more about the bureau’s stance on best practices for reporting elderly abuse.
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Calabria offers timetable for housing reform plan
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
Industry stakeholders recently got an update on when they can expect to learn more about the plans from President Donald Trump’s administration to reform the housing finance system.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said the agency plans to publish a report on the matter in late August or September.
Read on to find out what he had to say.
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FASB proposes CECL delay, trades note support
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
Community banks and credit unions are enthusiastic about the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) recent proposal to delay the effective date of the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standards until 2023 for certain smaller financial entities.
Many advocacy organizations have pushed for a delay in CECL’s implementation and expressed strong support for legislation introduced in the House and Senate that would compel federal regulators to “stop and study” the impact CECL would have on smaller institutions.
Find out more details about the proposal and the industry’s reaction.
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FTC settlements outline proper consumer data security
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
A pair of enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offer reference points as to what companies should do to adequately protect consumers’ personal data in the eyes of federal regulators.
The operators of two companies recently agreed to implement a comprehensive information security program before collecting personal information as part of final settlements with FTC related to allegations that he failed to take reasonable steps to protect personal data.
Find out what steps companies should take to secure data in line with FTC standards.
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FinCEN updates advisory on business email fraud
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently issued an updated advisory warning businesses about email schemes targeting businesses, which netted fraudsters more than $300 million a month in 2018.
Business email compromise schemes target businesses and their fund transfers through a variety of methods which continue to evolve, according to FinCEN.
Learn more about this type of fraud and how businesses can protect themselves.
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CFPB releases third-party debt collection report
Posted Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
One-in-four consumers are the subject of at least one third-party debt collection effort, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a report compiled using a nationally representative sample of 5 million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide credit reporting companies from 2004 to 2018.
The bureau’s Consumer Credit Panel (CCP) tapped 900 third-party debt collectors to furnish collection tradelines, which generally include data regarding account balances, payment histories, account statuses and more.
Learn more details revealed by the panel.
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Report: CFPB focused on fair lending for mortgages, small biz
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2019
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued its first annual Fair Lending Report to Congress under Director Kathy Kraninger, highlighting its efforts to prevent and address discriminatory activity and advance its new initiatives in connection with that mission throughout 2018.
Within the report, the bureau broadly describes progress it has made implementing new initiatives intended to allow companies to test new, innovative approaches to providing consumer credit, as well as the agency's activities in supervision and enforcement fair lending laws.
Find out more details about the report.
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Trades support CFPB reg review plan
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Numerous financial trade associations indicated that they strongly support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s plan to review all rules issued over the last decade in line with the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
At least one commenter suggested that the bureau conduct even more frequent reviews than required by law.
Learn what points the commenters made in response the bureau’s review plan.
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Trump Fed picks face distinctly different approval odds
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2019
President Donald Trump recently announced his intention to nominate Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller to fill open governor seats at the Federal Reserve.
Waller is regarded by many to be a safe, moderate choice to join the Fed. Shelton, on the flipside, could face an uphill battle to being confirmed by the Senate despite having already received Senate approval once.
Find out more details about the likely nominees and the conflict surrounding Shelton.
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Trade urges CFPB to replace QM patch
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Reiterating arguments expressed by community banks and credit unions, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals recently urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to extend the use of the temporary provision allowing certain loans with high debt-to-income (DTI) ratios to be deemed qualified mortgages (QMs).
The group proposed an alternative model for granting QM status to high-DTI loans based on their Average Prime Offered Rate.
Learn more details about the group’s proposed plan.
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AG cites deceptive ‘drip pricing’ in suit, orders redress
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2019
A recent case involving one of the world’s largest multinational hotel organizations highlights the types of add-on charges that regulators may determine to be intended to deceive consumers, resulting in hefty fines for the businesses responsible.
The interpretation relying upon by the state attorney general in this case is similar to that used in crafting many federal laws concerning consumer financial protection.
Find out more details about the case and its possible implications.
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House passes bills to protect VA, FHA borrowers
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
The House recently voted overwhelming in favor of six bipartisan bills, two of which would better protect borrowers seeking loans secured by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and would provide increased access to housing counseling, respectively.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and Ginnie Mae expressed strong support for two of the bills – H.R. 1988, the “Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act,” and H.R. 2162, the “Financial Literacy Act.”
Find out more information about these bills, as well as others that recently passed.
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CFPB details ‘abusive’ reasoning in debt-relief settlement
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
Alleging that the company acted “abusively” by taking “unreasonable advantage of consumers’ lack of understanding,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reached a $25 million settlement with a debt-relief company in a lawsuit that also included allegations of deceptive acts and practices in its communications with consumers and its telemarketing practices.
The bureau’s reasoning in determining that the company acted abusively references the Dodd-Frank Act definition of an abusive act or practice – a hotly contended subject of debate.
Learn more about the bureau’s reasoning in this case.
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FHFA reverses stance in constitutionality case
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
In a reversal from its previous stance under former acting director Joseph Otting, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently decided to defend the validity of the agency’s single-director structure against a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The change in position comes six months after FHFA filed a supplemental brief under Otting saying the agency would not defend the question over its constitutionality.
Find out more details about the ongoing matter.
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Rule simplifies Basel III requirements
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
Financial regulatory agencies have issued a joint final rule addressing numerous concerns community bankers have expressed about the applicability of certain Basel III advanced approach capital approach requirements geared toward the nation’s largest banks.
The new rule implements a section of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA).
Learn more details about how the rule aligns with industry advocacy efforts.
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Agencies exempt community banks from Volcker Rule
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
A new rule adopted by five federal financial regulatory agencies would exempt community banks from Volcker Rule requirements, implementing a section of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which passed in May 2018.
Under the final rule, which does not vary from the proposal, regulators exempt from Volcker Rule compliance obligations community banks with $10 billion or less in total consolidated assets and total trading assets and liabilities of 5 percent or less of total consolidated assets.
Learn more details about the rule and what it means for community banks and other institutions.
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Consumer confidence in banks unchanged in past year
Posted Date: Friday, July 12, 2019
Americans’ confidence level in banks has not wavered over the past years, according to an annual Gallup poll, which indicates that the percentage of people who have high regard for the institutions that protect their financial assets is the same as it was in last year’s survey.
Respondents were asked whether they have a “great deal,” “quite a lot,” “some” or “very little” confidence in various institutions.
Read on to learn more about the results.
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Calyx names new national sales consultant
Posted Date: Thursday, July 11, 2019
Calyx recently announced hired Robert Shumake as a national sales consultant for the company, which provides comprehensive mortgage software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers, wholesale and correspondent lenders and brokers.
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Trades urge FHA to ditch lender certification mandates
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Numerous financial professionals have urged the Federal Housing Administration to remove loan-level certification requirements from its defect taxonomy and standardize loan-level compliance monitoring and enforcement processes nationwide.
Four trade groups endorsed a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, expressing concerns that proposed changes to the certification requirements and the defect taxonomy would fail to mitigate certain compliance risks.
Learn more details about the trades’ recommended changes to the proposal.
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Trades urge CFPB action on remittance rule
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Numerous trade associations representing banks and credit unions responded to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) request for information about its proposed changes to the Electronic Fund Transfers Act (EFTA) that would impact how institutions perform remittances.
The trades offered numerous suggestions pertaining to the remittance rule, which was crafted to protect consumers when sending funds overseas electronically and includes exemptions for institutions that meet certain criteria.
Learn specific details about the stakeholder recommendations the bureau received on the matter.
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CFPB: Most Americans carry revolving credit card debt
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019
A new report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shows that consumers who carry a balance on their credit cards month-to-month are more likely to have lower credit scores and less likely to get out of debt without defaulting than those who do not carry revolving credit card balances.
“Revolvers,” as they are dubbed in the report, account for approximately two-thirds of active credit card accounts in the U.S.
Find out more insights revealed by the bureau’s analysis.
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OCC rescinds guidance on high LTV loans
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued a bulletin rescinding its guidance created to support banking institutions’ efforts to better serve low- and moderate-income communities through lending activities related to high loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
The agency noted that it continues to support the use of lending strategies many banks employ to help underserved communities, many of which qualify for Community Reinvestment Act credit.
Learn more about the bulletin that has been rescinded.
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FHFA provides new benchmark resource for mortgage lenders
Posted Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced that it is replacing its Monthly Interest Rate Survey with a new data-based survey for mortgage lenders to use as a benchmark for product interest rates – Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The American Bankers Association has advocated for FHFA to provide a new source of average mortgage-rate data that could be used as a benchmark for various products.
Read on to learn more details about the new survey.
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Fed publishes second half of stress test results
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Federal Reserve is not objecting any of the 18 capital plans it evaluated as part of its Dodd-Frank Act-mandated Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR), part two of the agency’s annual bank stress tests, finding that the nation’s largest banks have strong capital levels and planning processes.
All but one firm were found to be meeting supervisory expectations for capital planning.
Find out more details about what the agency determined.
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FDIC centralizes large bank supervision
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is planning to centralize the supervision and resolution activities for the largest banks and complex financial institutions under a new division which will be dubbed the Division of Complex Institution Supervision and Resolution (CISR).
CISR will be responsible for activities currently divided among three separate divisions of FDIC when it becomes operational July 21.
Read on for more information.
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BB&T, SunTrust sued over ‘Truist’ branding announcement
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The merger of BB&T and SunTrust, which drew scrutiny from Democrats and consumer groups when it was announced in February, found a new point of contention after executives announced the name for what will become the nation’s sixth largest bank – Truist.
The new branding has not been well-received by the public and now is the subject of a lawsuit for alleged trademark infringement.
Find out more details about the situation.
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Bipartisan bill proposes clearer federal student loan disclosures
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019
New bipartisan legislation proposes to improve clarity in federal student loan disclosure forms to ensure that student borrowers understand the associated costs and terms before completing the application process.
The bill would subject federal student lenders to the same disclosure requirements as private lenders – a prospect the financial industry supports.
Find out more details about the proposal.
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Rate drops help June see strong mortgage application growth
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2019
June saw a major uptick in applications flanked by a notable drop in rates across the board, according to data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) in its Weekly Mortgage Application Surveys published throughout the month.
After relatively little movement in May, applications spiked the first week of the month, dipping only slightly the following week.
Find out more details about survey results from June.
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Symposium panelists delve into CFPB abusive authority
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
Discussions about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) can become heated partisan debates. However, that was not the case during the agency’s symposium on the meaning and use of “abusive” in enforcement actions – the first in a series of symposiums discussing similar topics.
The event featured insight from two panels’ worth of experts – one featuring academics with expertise in consumer protection laws discussing policy issues related to the abusive standard and another featuring legal experts dissecting how the standard has been used in practice.
Get a deep dive into the various considerations the panelists covered.
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CFPB extends comment periods for HMDA proposals
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
Industry stakeholders will have additional time to comment on two of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) most recent rulemaking activities related the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) – one relating to discretionary data-point requirements and another relating to proposed collection threshold requirements.
The extensions are in response to stakeholders indicating the need for more time to review the bureau’s forthcoming overviews of 2018 HMDA data and the loan level dataset compiled by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Learn more details about the comment period extensions.
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ICBA: Streamlined call report rule misses the mark
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
The three federal bank regulatory agencies adopted a final rule to streamline regulatory reporting first- and third-quarter call report requirements for small institutions.
Although the rule is intended to save banks time, community banking advocates have argued that it fails to fulfill the intent of Congress or to meaningfully relieve regulatory burdens on small banks.
Find out why community bankers likely are not done advocating for call report relief.
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SBA proposes to increase lending oversight per S. 2155
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued a proposed rule to implement legislation intended to strengthen the agency’s oversight of its loan programs and increase maximum lending authority.
The proposal implements provisions of the Small Business 7(a) Lending Oversight Reform Act, which was drafted in response to growth in SBA 7(a) lending activity.
Learn what modifications the rule would make if enacted.
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Industry supports Trump affordable housing directive
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order establishing a White House Council on “Eliminating Barriers to Affordable Housing Development.”
The move was met with support from multiple sectors of the financial industry, including mortgage bankers, community bankers and credit unions.
Find out about the purpose of the new council.
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Consumers: Keep your mobile bank apps simple
Posted Date: Friday, June 28, 2019
The emphasis on offering digital banking platforms to meet the expectations of younger generations of consumers, as well as tech-savvy Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, is prevalent among financial institutions today.
For companies conscious of the cost associated with providing a mobile customer experience, a new study by J.D. Power has some good news on the subject – simplicity is best.
Learn what consumers care most about when interacting with their banks digitally.
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ClosingCorp integrates with WGS to produce new tool
Posted Date: Friday, June 21, 2019
LoanScorecard, which provides non-agency automated underwriting systems (AUS), recently partnered with Nations Direct Mortgage (NDM) to power DirectQual, a pricing and scenario tool designed to provide preliminary pricing for various loan scenarios.
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MBA launches new affordable housing initiative
Posted Date: Friday, June 14, 2019
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) recently launched a new strategic initiative to help develop stronger and more effective affordable housing partnerships in both the policy and business arenas.
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Gateway First Bank appoints new chief compliance officer
Posted Date: Friday, June 7, 2019
Gateway First Bank in Oklahoma announced the appointment of Natalia Coen as its new chief compliance officer. Coen will be responsible for planning, developing and managing the execution of a compliance management system and any related initiatives at one of the 10 largest banks by asset-size in the state of Oklahoma and one of the largest mortgage bank operations in the country.
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