FRB

The House recently passed four bipartisan bills proposing policy changes that would impact bankers and mortgage professionals and certain federal agencies that regulate them.

The approved measures are: H.R. 758, the Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act; H.R. 974, the Federal Reserve Supervision Testimony Clarification Act; H.R. 1122, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act; and H.R. 1414, the FinCEN Improvement Act.

Learn more details about the proposed impacts of each measure.

Taking the next step in its project to modernize federal examination processes, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) recently issued a policy statement aimed at promoting clarity and consistency of reports of examination.

The principles include expectations for what information should be included in ROEs, as well as guidance on how that information should be presented to promote consistency, clarity and ease of reference, among other things.

Find out more details about the principles set forth in the new policy statement.

Beginning in the 2019 cycle, the Federal Reserve plans to limit its use of the “qualitative objection” in its Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) process.

The Fed also voted to hold the countercyclical capital buffer for banking organizations using the Basel III advanced approaches at zero percent and released instructions for the 2019 CCAR exercise.

Find out what the industry is saying about the Fed’s announcements.

In what would be the largest bank merger by asset and deposit volume since the financial crisis, SunTrust Banks, Inc. and BB&T Corp. recently announced they’d agreed to a $66 billion deal that would combine both companies to form the sixth-largest bank by asset size in the country.

The merger was announced two days after the Federal Reserve informed both banks they would not be required to comply with certain stress testing requirements, invoking its ability to do so for banks with less than $250 billion in assets under S. 2155.

Find out more details about the deal and what congressional hurdles could slow the closing process.

Noting that her partial term will expire in less than a year, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) urged President Donald Trump to renominate Michelle “Miki” Bowman for a full term as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.

Her November 2018 confirmation made her the first Fed governor to occupy the board’s seat created specifically for a member with community banking expertise.

Read on to learn more about why ICBA supports her renomination.

The Federal Reserve recently reported that 2018 ended with a notable increase in consumer credit. Statistics released by the Fed indicated that consumer credit increased by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter and 5 percent in December.

Some financial analysts have predicted that consumer credit growth with continue throughout much of 2019.

Read on to learn more details about what factors contributed to the increase. 

The federal banking agencies recently published a letter to covered banks and savings institutions with instructions for submitting 2018 fourth quarter consolidated reports of condition and income (Call Report).

The letter applies to institutions with total assets less than $1 billion supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., including community institutions.

Read on to get more details.

In her fourth month awaiting word from the Senate about a confirmation hearing, former Federal Reserve economist Nellie Liang has decided to withdraw her nomination for a seat on the Fed Board of Governors.

Liang, who has drawn criticism from Senate Republicans over her role in implementing post-crisis regulatory measures included in the Dodd-Frank Act, referenced the extended length of the confirmation process as a contributing factor for her decision.

Read on to learn what this means for the board.

Barring an act of Congress to block or further delay its implementation, financial institutions will have up to three years to reconcile their accounting practices with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) complex and largely unpopular new Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard.

The financial regulatory agencies’ recent final rule affords certain institutions a transition option to help them adjust to the CECL standard’s day-one adverse effects pertaining to regulatory capital.

Find out what institutions qualify for the phase-in period and what requirements they must meet along the way.

Competition is a main driving force behind the free market. For mortgage lenders, the influx of competition in recent years has been well-documented from a business perspective but the economic implications – particularly to interest rates – could warrant a closer look.   

Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan spoke with Dodd Frank Update about factors that could cause rates to increase in the foreseeable future, as well as several factors industry participants should monitor to be as prepared as possible for may be on the horizon. 

Read on to learn more.