Inside the Beltway

Fraudsters attempted to steal $25.1 billion for bank deposit accounts in 2018, according to the American Bankers Association’s (ABA) 2019 Deposit Account Fraud Survey. Banks’ efforts to safeguard deposit those accounts saved $22.3 billion of those funds from theft – the equivalent of $9 for every $10 in attempted fraud.

The ABA survey has been conducted biennially on a national basis since 1993, tracking data on various types of fraud including check, debit, bill pay, person-to-person (P2P) transfers, wire and automated clearinghouse (ACH) transactions.

Find out more details from the report.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. published their proposed rule for modernizing Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations in the Federal Register on Thursday. Interested stakeholders will have 60 days from the proposal’s publication to comment on its provisions.

The proposal includes the two agencies’ recommendations for establishing new assessment areas, new testing parameters and expanding the types of activities that qualify for CRA credit, among other details.

Learn specifics about the comment period on the proposed rule.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued its Financial Literacy Annual Report for fiscal year 2019, which details the bureau’s efforts toward fulfilling its statutory mission of improving consumers’ understanding of financial topics.

Highlighting the agency’s reasoning behind its emphasis on promoting good saving habits, the report includes statistics regarding consumers’ financial well-being and details the agency’s goals and strategies for improving financial literacy throughout the country.

Read on to learn more information.

There is bipartisan support for legislation that would provide banks and credit unions a legal safe harbor from repercussions for financing legitimate marijuana-related businesses, but the measure continues to face hesitation in the Senate Banking Committee.

Having previously acknowledged the merits of arguments for and against creating such a precedent, Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) leaned toward the latter in a recent statement regarding the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act.

Learn more details about Crapo’s views on the matter.

The five federal financial regulatory agencies recently issued a joint statement on the use of alternative data in underwriting by banks, credit unions and non-bank financial firms. The agencies sought to call out the consumer benefits of using alternative data in terms of credit availability.

The agencies described how a well-designed compliance management program can enable companies to account for relevant consumer protection laws and regulations to ensure all opportunities, risks and compliance requirements when using alternative date in credit decisions.

Get more details about the statement.

To assess how credit reporting accuracy has been affected by legal and technological developments in recent years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hosting a workshop Tuesday alongside the Federal Trade Commission.

Among the new developments to be discussed are the use of machine learning and alternative data in making eligibility determinations.

Find out more information about what is on the docket for the event.

The Office of the Inspector General (IG) for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) stated that it is conducting an audit of the agency’s examination processes in its latest semiannual report to Congress with relation to assessing third-party risks.

Notably, NCUA is the only federal prudential financial agency that lacks examination authority over third-party vendors used by the entities it supervises – a fact a piece of draft legislation seeks to change.

Learn more about the audit and what it says about the perceived importance of third-party oversight at credit unions.

Research conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to measure the average American’s financial well-being revealed that more than half of adults would struggle to cover an unexpected expense of $2,000 or more.

The CFPB included state-by-state comparisons of financial well-being scores in a report detailing its findings, as well as a breakdown of financial well-being by age.

Learn more about what the report reveals about the majority of Americans.

New Taxpayer Consent Language issued by MISMO, the mortgage industry’s standards organization, permits lenders to share tax information received from the Internal Revenue Service with other parties involved in a mortgage transaction, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced.

MISMO created its Taxpayer Consent Language to help the mortgage industry consistently comply with the Taxpayer First Act, which passed July 1, and goes into effect Dec. 28.

Read on for more information about the release.

During its 2020 Annual Convention in Austin, Texas, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced its roster of leaders elected to serve multiple boards and committees over the coming year.

Those groups include its Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG), Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors (COMBOG) and Residential Committees.

Read on to find out what members comprise each one.