Top Story Compliance Related

The CFPB has announced it will start offering an email course, "Get a Handle on Debt Boot Camp," to help consumers create a budget, track spending, and learn strategies for paying down debt. The course is scheduled to begin in February.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published in the January 12, 2017, Federal Register a final rule adjusting for inflation the maximum amount of each civil penalty within the Bureau’s jurisdiction. These adjustments are required by the Inflation Adjustment Act. The inflation adjustments mandated by the Inflation Adjustment Act serve to maintain the deterrent effect of civil penalties and to promote compliance with the law. The rule is effective January 15, 2017.

As examples of the inflation adjustments, the $50 per violation statutory civil money penalty for failure to provide an annual escrow statement under RESPA will be increased to $92, with an annual cap, originally $100,000, increased to $184,767. Intentional failures to provide the statement can result in penalties up to $185 per violation with no annual cap, an increase from the statutory amount of $100. The statutory maximum penalty of $10,000 per day for a first violation of the appraisal independence requirements under the Truth in Lending Act will be increased to $11,279.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has published in the January 12, 2018, Federal Register a notice of inflation adjustments to civil money penalty amounts.

The FDIC published in the January 12, 2018, Federat Register a final rule making civil money penalty inflation adjustments for violations of statutes, rules and orders within its jurisdiction. The rule amends § 308.116 of the FDIC's Rule and Regulations at 12 CFR Part 308. The amendment affects penalties assessed after January 15, 2018, for violations that occurred on or after November 2, 2015.

Judge Timothy J. Kelly, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia yesterday denied CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English's motion for a preliminary injunction that would restrain the president from appointing Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB, stating that English is unlikely to succeed in her case brought to enjoin the president from such an appointment. The underlying case pits a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that provides that the Deputy Director of the agency shall "serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director," against the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, under which Mulvaney was appointed acting Director by the president.

The Federal Reserve Board has published a final rule [83 FR 1182] adjusting the amount of each civil money penalty maximum provided by law within its jurisdiction to account for inflation, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The adjustments apply to penalties assessed on or after January 10, 2018, for violations occurring on or after November 2, 2015. For example, the statutory $2,000 maximum penalty per violation for violations of requirements to require certain violations of the National Flood Insurance Act, which had increased to $2,056 in January of last year, has now been set at $2,133 per violation. A table of the maximum CMP amounts is found in § 263.65 of the Board's Rules of Practice for Hearings, at 12 CFR Part 263.

The FDIC has published a Notice in today's Federal Register that it proposes to update its Statement of Policy (SOP) issued pursuant to Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. Section 19 prohibits, without the prior written consent of the FDIC, any person from participating in banking who has been convicted of a crime of dishonesty or breach of trust or money laundering, or who has entered a pretrial diversion or similar program in connection with the prosecution for such an offense. The FDIC is proposing to expand its current de minimis exception to encompass insufficient funds checks of aggregate moderate value; small dollar, simple theft; and isolated, minor offenses committed by young adults. These carefully measured changes are intended to reduce regulatory burden by decreasing the number of covered offenses that will require an application, while ensuring that insured institutions are not subject to risk by convicted persons. Comments on the proposal are due by March 9, 2018.

On Friday, January 5, acting under Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four current or former Venezuelan government officials associated with corruption and repression in Venezuela. As a result of Friday’s actions, all assets of the designated current or former officials of the Government of Venezuela that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them. For the four individuals' identification information, see our OFAC Update.

• Press release

The FDIC has released a list of 67 state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The list covers ratings assigned in October 2017. Seven of the banks listed received outstanding evaluation ratings. The remaining 60 institutions received satisfactory ratings.

FDIC FIL-4-2018, issued on Friday, addresses revisions to the consolidated reports of condition and income (Call Report) for March and June 2018. The FIL applies to all FDIC-supervised banks and savings associations, including community institutions. Highlights include:

• The burden-reducing changes being implemented by the agencies apply to the new FFIEC 051 Call Report as well as the FFIEC 041 and FFIEC 031 Call Reports.
  • These revisions will take effect as of the June 30, 2018, report date, which is the proposed effective date of further burden-reducing Call Report revisions about which the agencies recently requested comment.
  • For small institutions filing the FFIEC 051, the reporting changes will affect approximately seven percent of the data items collected.
• Revisions will be made to several Call Report schedules as of March 31, 2018, in response to changes in the accounting for equity securities and other equity investments that take effect for some institutions in the first quarter of 2018.
• The agencies' June 2017 proposal also included an instructional revision for determining past-due status for regulatory reporting purposes. Based on the comments received on this aspect of the proposal, the agencies are not introducing this proposed instructional revision at this time.
• Redlined copies of the FFIEC 051, FFIEC 041, and FFIEC 031 report forms showing the Call Report revisions and the related draft instructions are available on the FFIEC's website (https://www.ffiec.gov/ffiec_report_forms.htm). This website also includes draft revised instructions to implement the agencies' regulatory capital transitions final rule in the Call Report for March 31, 2018.
• Review FIL-2-2018 for additional information about the changes to the Call Report requirements.