FDIC

In a move that has major implications for mortgage lenders and appraisers, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a joint rule to increase the threshold for residential real estate transactions requiring an appraisal from $250,000 to $400,000.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s required letter weighing in on the measure closely reflected contentions put forth by financial institutions and the trade associations.

Learn more details about the final rule and stakeholder reactions.

To enact the level of regulatory relief intended by Congress, several legislators and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) have demonstrated that they are in sync in believing federal banking regulators should finalize joint rulemaking setting the community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) at 8 percent.

Eighteen Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee wrote to federal regulators, urging them to enact the 8 percent CBLR, rather than the 9 percent ratio the agencies proposed in November 2018.

Read on for more details about their reasoning.

For the second time in a span of a year the banking industry has recorded a new record for profits in a single quarter. Profits for the second quarter of 2019 surpassed the previous record set in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile.

FDIC Chairwoman Jelena McWilliams attributed the most recent net income gains to a $4.9 billion (3.7 percent) uptick in net interest income, and community banking groups were pleased at findings showing that community banks performed particularly well during the quarter.

Find out more details about the report’s results.

Bankers’ calls for a tailored, streamlined approach to enforcing the regulatory framework implementing Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act provision, commonly known as the “Volcker Rule,” have been answered by a newly finalized joint agency rule revising provisions governing banks’ ability to engage in proprietary investment activities.

Regulators and banking industry advocates assert that the final rule will bring appropriate regulatory relief to the banking industry without compromising safety and soundness. However, credit union advocates and consumer groups have cast doubts on the latter notion.

Learn more details about the newly finalized rule.

Continuing in its ongoing effort to prevent fintechs from exploiting a “loophole” in federal banking laws, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) once again urged the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to impose an immediate moratorium on industrial loan company (ILC) charters and to deny a high-profile applicant’s bid to obtain one.

The letter represents ICBA’s second formal effort to prevent the company from obtaining an ILC charter. The first came shortly after it filed the charter application in late July. 

Find out more about why the association does not believe the company should be chartered.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently proposed a new methodology for calculating interest rate restrictions for entities considered not to be well-capitalized insured depository institutions.

Per the FDIC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR), the national rate would be the weighted average of rates offered on a given deposit product by all reporting institutions weighted by domestic deposit share.

Find out more about the proposal and how to comment.

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee recently wrote to federal banking regulators to urge the swifter adoption of changes made from recent regulatory financial reform in S. 2155.

“More can still be done to support the economic expansion,” the senators, led by Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), said in the letter.

Read on for details of where the senators want regulators to focus their efforts to hasten regulatory relief.

With the dust far from settled on the largest data breach to date, Capital One revealed that it too has suffered a major breach, exposing personal information for 106 million credit card customers in U.S. and Canada.

The incident already has caught the ire of the New York Attorney General’s office and could be the subject of federal regulatory action similar to that recently taken against Equifax.

Learn more about the breach and its potential regulatory implications.

Federal regulators recently outlined a new risk-based approach to assess banks for Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) rule compliance as part of an ongoing effort to increase transparency regarding their supervisory process.

Through its risk-focused approach, the federal agencies and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said they intend to better tailor examination plans and procedures based on the unique risk profiles of individual banks in a joint statement.

Find out more about the new risk-based approach.

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.