|
Lew spars with senators over capital requirements, too-big-to-fail
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
The leader of the federal panel tasked with identifying and addressing threats to U.S. financial stability told a U.S. Senate committee that regulators should be permitted to enact existing financial reforms before policymakers determine whether to take additional steps to end too-big-to-fail. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, chairman of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, discussed issues ranging from capital requirements to cross-border regulatory coordination during a May 21 hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Lawmakers warn of potential QM fallout
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Some members of Congress want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make significant changes to its new ability-to-repay rule. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recently challenged bureau representatives on numerous issues ranging from the rule’s 3-percent cap on points and fees for qualified mortgages to the bureau’s ability and willingness to change the rule in the event it fails to function as expected when it takes effect in January 2014. Read on for part one of this two-part series.
|
|
|
‘Swipe fee’ rule’s small issuer exemption is working, Fed says
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Federal Reserve debit card interchange fee caps enacted under the Dodd-Frank Act have not harmed smaller issuers as some industry participants feared, the agency said in a May 23 report. According to Fed numbers, small institutions that are exempt from the new rules received roughly the same fee revenue per transaction in 2012 as they did before the rules went into effect in October 2011.
|
|
|
CFPB, state credit union supervisors sign MOU
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state credit union regulators inked a memorandum of understanding intended to enhance coordination and cooperation for the supervision of state chartered credit unions, the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors reported. The CFPB also recently entered into an MOU with state bank regulators. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
CFPB releases guidance on uniform state test for loan originators
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released guidance on May 20 to respond to questions about whether states are allowed to use the uniform state test developed by the National Mortgage Licensing System and Registry as part of a qualified written test required by the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act. Read on to learn what the CFPB had to say.
|
|
|
Dodd-Frank’s orderly liquidation provisions criticized on Capitol Hill
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Dodd-Frank Act gave regulators power to unwind troubled systemically important financial institutions in the hope that taxpayers will never again be required to bail out a too-big-to-fail firm. However, some lawmakers and experts argue that the act’s orderly liquidation provisions enshrine too-big-to-fail and have no hope of functioning as intended. The implications of Dodd-Frank’s orderly liquidation provisions were the topic of discussion during a recent U.S. House subcommittee hearing. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
SEC cost-benefit bill approved in U.S. House
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
An agency criticized for its assessments of the costs and benefits associated with some of its Dodd-Frank final rules would face enhanced rulemaking requirements under legislation approved by the U.S. House. Read on to learn about the bill and the obligations it would place on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
|
|
|
Fed OIG releases report on CFPB audits, inspections and evaluations
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General issued a Semiannual Report to Congress, noting that it has begun a review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s goals and performance objectives and describing the ongoing oversight of the CFPB, including an evaluation of the bureau’s integration of enforcement attorneys into its examinations. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
State regulators, CFPB sign off on coordination framework
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau signed a supervisory coordination framework. The framework is intended to establish a process for coordinated federal and state consumer protection supervision and enforcement for covered banks and nonbanks. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Texas homebuilder slapped with CFPB consent order
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered a Texas homebuilder to turn over alleged kickbacks the agency said he funneled through sham mortgage companies. The bureau also prohibited the builder from engaging in future real estate settlement services, including mortgage origination. Read on to learn how much money the builder was ordered to surrender to the CFPB.
|
|
|
Midyear stress test results due to FRB July 5
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Eighteen large U.S. bank holding companies are required to submit the results of their company-run, midyear stress tests to the Federal Reserve on July 5, the Federal Reserve said in instructions to those firms May 13. Read on for the details and a link to the instructions.
|
|
|
CFTC finalizes long-delayed swap execution facility rules
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
A divided Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted to adopt numerous rules representing some of the final important building blocks in the agency’s new regulatory regime for swaps. Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said the final rules pertaining to minimum block sizes for swaps, and requirements for regulated swaps trading platforms known as swap execution facilities, will “make public transparency in the swaps market a reality.” However, Republican commissioners voiced concern over the final rules. The rules were also immediately lampooned by some industry participants. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
CFPB en Español website to serve 50M Latinos
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched a Spanish language website to provide a resource for financial education to over 50 million Latinos in the United States, including 37 million who speak primarily Spanish at home. Read on for more and to hear what Richard Cordray had to say about the CFPB’s efforts to end “bait and switch” schemes designed to deliberately exploit those who speak a foreign language.
|
|
|
CFPB employs YouTube to explain mortgage rules
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched a series of video presentations via YouTube to explain the new mortgage rules. The agency said the goal is to make the information more accessible to industry participants. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Final escrow rule amendments leave ‘rural’ definition unchanged, for now
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule clarifying that certain protections applicable to higher-priced mortgage loans will not expire prior to the effective date for the bureau’s new ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule. The May 16 changes to the CFPB’s January escrow rule for HPMLs also clarify how to determine whether a county is considered “rural” or “underserved” for purposes of applying certain important exemptions set forth under the CFPB’s new mortgage rules. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Ohio MBA live coverage: Mortgage industry has issues to spare
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
A host of burgeoning national and regional issues could give rise to numerous opportunities, risks and a great deal of uncertainty in the mortgage industry in the coming months and years, according to experts and industry leaders at the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Dodd Frank Update was on hand as industry stakeholders discussed the mortgage implications of everything from federal monetary and fiscal policy to Ohio’s oil and natural gas boom. Read on to learn about some of the issues that are driving the mortgage debate in the Buckeye State and beyond.
|
|
|
Senators challenge regulators on credit reporting issues
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance pressured the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission to take additional steps to ensure that consumers are not harmed by credit reporting inaccuracies. Lawmakers also voiced concern about the usefulness of the error resolution strategies that are available to consumers who find an error and the steps credit bureaus and their information furnishers take to ensure that corrected errors don’t crop up on future reports.
|
|
|
Duke suggests ways to mitigate credit tightening under QM
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth Duke said aspects of the ability-to-repay rule and qualified mortgage standards may make credit access difficult for homebuyers with low credit scores, but offered some solutions for both lenders and regulators on possible ways to mitigate what she calls the “murky” path to easier credit conditions. Read on to learn what she sees as the effects of the QM rulemaking on access to credit and what she sees as a possible cure.
|
|
|
Curry touts OCC approach to improving examinations
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said the new rules flowing out of the Dodd-Frank Act are crucial to safety and soundness, but equally important are the “boots on the ground” seasoned professionals who “bring the benefit of sound judgment and a careers-worth of experience to their work.” Read on to learn what Curry had to say about the OCC’s efforts to restore credibility to bank supervision.
|
|
|
Would your marketing agreements pass a CFPB review? – Free Article
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Much has changed in the way of marketing agreements in the past decade. With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at the helm, new regulations, an interpretive rule and the volatilities of the market, title insurance, mortgage, real estate and settlement services professionals need to be on alert with how they are structuring marketing agreements. Industry members should also be aware of where the market is headed in terms of business partnerships, alliances and other types of arrangements.
|
|
|
CFTC to consider pre-trade transparency rulemakings
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week is expected to consider long-delayed Dodd-Frank rules intended to promote pre-trade transparency in the swaps market. The commission will consider swaps block rules, the swap execution facility rule and the ‘made available to trade’ rule on May 16. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
|
CFPB to delay portion of LO Comp final rule
Posted Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to delay the compliance date for a provision of its loan originator compensation final rule that prohibits creditors from financing premiums for credit insurance products in connection with certain consumer credit transactions secured by a dwelling. While most of the loan originator compensation rule will take effect in January 2014, the ban related to financing credit insurance would have taken effect on June 1. Read on to learn why the CFPB is seeking the delay.
|
|
|
Many rural banks not rural enough for CFPB rules, ICBA survey finds
Posted Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule would restrict rural borrowers’ access to credit, according to the results of a community bankers’ survey conducted by the Independent Community Bankers of America. The advocacy group indicated the survey provides further evidence that the CFPB should reconsider the scope of certain exemptions intended to ensure that rural lenders can continue to originate balloon payment loans. Read on for the details of the ICBA’s survey.
|
|
|
CFPB warns student loan debt could impact broader economy
Posted Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
Student loan debt is taking a toll on individual borrowers and could ultimately impact the broader economy, a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau determined. The report discusses several policy options the bureau hopes will inform the ongoing discussion over how to help borrowers better manage their private student loan debt. Read on to learn about the report.
|
|
|
CSBS: Fed foreign bank proposal could interfere with state regulation
Posted Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
State banking regulators urged the Federal Reserve to rethink portions of a proposed rule that would impose enhanced prudential standards on large foreign banking organizations with operations in the United States. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors said the rules would have a direct impact on state banking departments that supervise offices of FBOs. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Swaps bills clear House Financial Services Committee
Posted Date: Friday, May 10, 2013
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee reported nine bills to the House, including several bills that would amend certain Dodd-Frank Act swaps provisions. Read on to learn about the bills, including a measure that would exempt inter-affiliate trades from Dodd-Frank’s margin, clearing and reporting requirements.
|
|
|
Fannie, Freddie will only purchase QMs, FHFA says
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to limit their future mortgage acquisitions to loans that meet the requirements for a qualified mortgage, including those that meet the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s special or temporary QM definition, and loans that are exempt from Dodd-Frank’s ability-to-repay requirements. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
CFTC issues no action letters on external business conduct standards rules
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight released three no-action letters delaying compliance for certain Dodd-Frank swaps requirements that would have taken effect on May 1. One such letter provides swap dealers with temporary, conditional relief from certain external business conduct standards rules in the context of prime brokerage arrangements. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
CFPB takes debt-relief companies to court
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a complaint in a federal district court in New York against two debt-relief service providers that allegedly charged consumers illegal advance fees for debt-settlement services. The bureau is seeking to halt the operations and to obtain both penalties and relief for victims. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
ABA: Rule exemptions shouldn’t just be for ‘rural’ and ‘underserved’ banks
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The American Bankers Association told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that certain mortgage rule exemptions for small creditors that operate in rural and underserved areas should be available to more community banks that hold covered loans in portfolio, regardless of where those banks are located. The ABA’s comments came in response to a CFPB proposal that sought to clarify elements of the bureau’s new escrow rule. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
New York plans to sue BofA, Wells Fargo over alleged mortgage settlement violations
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
New York State’s attorney general is preparing to sue Bank of America and Wells Fargo for alleged violations of a 2012 settlement with state AGs that required the nation’s five largest mortgage servicing banks to comply with a set of servicing standards. New York AG Eric Schneiderman said Bank of American and Wells Fargo “flagrantly violated” the National Mortgage Settlement. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Fed’s Tarullo: Additional steps needed to address too-big-to-fail concerns
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Dodd-Frank and Basel III are helping to address the issues that led to the financial crisis, yet vulnerabilities remain and additional regulatory steps are likely warranted, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said. Read on to learn what actions Tarullo said regulators should consider to address vulnerabilities in the short-term wholesale funding markets and the continuing problem of too-big-to-fail.
|
|
|
Heading for Columbus? Ohio MBA convention to focus on CFPB compliance
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
There’s strength in numbers, and nowhere is that more apparent than at a major national convention. However, the real estate and mortgage industries are inherently local and there’s no better place to get a feel for what’s really happening on the ground in these industries than at a state convention. Next week, Dodd Frank Update will head to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Convention. Read on to find out what topics are driving the mortgage debate in the Buckeye State.
|
|
|
CFPB finalizes stay-at-home spouse CARD Act rule
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized rule revisions intended to ensure that stay-at-home spouses have access to credit cards. The amendments came after consumer advocates argued that current rules requiring issuers to consider individual rather than household income unfairly impact stay-at-home parents who may seek to obtain a credit card in their own name. Read on to learn about the final rule and how the CFPB responded to suggestions from the banking industry.
|
|
|
CFPB releases compliance guides for high-cost mortgage, appraisal rules
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection bureau released small entity compliance guides for three more of its January rulemakings. The guides cover the bureau’s Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act rule, and rules pertaining to lender-furnished appraisals and appraisals for higher-priced mortgages. Read on to learn about the guides and for links to all the mortgage regulation compliance guides released by the CFPB so far.
|
|
|
SEC proposes cross-border rules, reopens rulemaking comment periods
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose rules and interpretive guidance for parties to cross-border security-based swap transactions. The commission also voted to reopen the public comment period for all rules not yet finalized, stemming from Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
U.S. House Democrat nominated to lead FHFA
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
President Barack Obama tapped veteran U.S. House Democrat Mel Watt to be the permanent leader of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The president’s announcement comes amid mounting tension over the FHFA’s stance on principle write-downs under acting Director Edward DeMarco. It also comes at a key moment for the FHFA, which is under pressure to hasten the wind down of government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
|
|
|
CFPB releases amended remittance transfer rule, sets compliance date
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized amendments intended to address compliance concerns related to international remittance transfer rules finalized in 2012. Certain fee disclosures required under the previously-released final rules are made optional by the new final rule. The bureau also made important changes to the 2012 rules’ error resolution requirements. Read on to learn about the final rule and when institutions will be required to comply with the CFPB’s complete set of money transfer requirements.
|
|
|
Regulatory relief bill would amend key Dodd-Frank mortgage provisions
Posted Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
A U.S. House Republican introduced legislation intended to lighten community institutions’ regulatory burden. The bill would broaden certain community bank exemptions set forth under Title XIV of the Dodd-Frank Act. Read on to learn how the measure would impact the scope of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s qualified mortgage definition.
|
|
|
OCC’s DuChene outlines 5 Es of an effective risk culture
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Regulators and bankers made significant progress as they worked to bolster controls, risk management capabilities and capital and liquidity standards in the wake of the financial crisis. However, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s top operational risk supervisor recently suggested that additional attention should be paid to promoting institutions’ risk cultures. Read on to learn what Carolyn DuChene, OCC deputy comptroller for Operational Risk, identified as some of the hallmarks of an effective risk culture.
|
|
|
CFPB unveils penalty fund rulemaking
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released final rules governing a Dodd-Frank-mandated penalty fund used to pay consumers who fall victim to law breaking companies. Money from the fund will also be used to promote consumer education and financial literacy programs. Read on to learn about the rule and some rule amendments proposed by the bureau.
|
|
|
Government to survey borrowers as part of mortgage database project
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The Federal Housing Financial Agency plans to survey thousands of borrowers each year as part of its effort to build and maintain a government database of mortgage information. The FHFA, which is partnering with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to build the forthcoming National Mortgage Database, said the surveys would help regulators obtain critical information that is not available from existing sources. Read on to learn about the FHFA’s plan.
|
|
|
Government asks Supreme Court to take up recess appointment case
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The government is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appellate court decision that invalidated President Barack Obama’s 2012 recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. Richard Cordray was recess appointed to his position as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the same manner as the NLRB appointees, and while Cordray is not mentioned in the case, the Supreme Court’s response could have an effect on his appointment as well. Read on for the details.
|
|
|
Rep. Waters wants FSOC to review derivatives bills
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The top Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee wants the Financial Stability Oversight Council to weigh in a set of bills that would amend Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. Read on to learn why the lawmaker believes such a review is needed.
|
|
|
Mortgage banker and world-wide ‘edutainer’ to deliver powerful keynotes
Posted Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2013
October Research LLC, publisher of Dodd Frank Update, is pleased to announce it has selected a high-profile mortgage banker and a world-renowned business author to deliver keynotes at the 2013 National Settlement Services Summit, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, June 10-12 at the Marriott at Key Center. Read on to learn about these featured speakers.
|
|