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The Federal Reserve Board has issued SR 16-11 with supervisory guidance for assessing risk management at supervised institutions with total consolidated assets of less than $50 billion. The guidance reaffirms the Federal Reserve's long-standing supervisory approach that emphasizes the importance of prudent risk management.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced an agreement with First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, resolving allegations that the bank's predecessor, First Citizens Bank and Trust Co., denied mortgage loans to African American, Latino and Asian American mortgage applicants at a disproportionately higher rate than white applicants. In January 2015, the South Carolina-based bank was merged into First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, a North Carolina-chartered commercial lender. As the successor, First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company continued to cooperate with HUD throughout the investigation and ultimate resolution. First-Citizens agreed to take several steps to ensure and protect equal access to credit including refraining from unlawful consideration of race or national origin when selecting sites for branch offices and services offered, conducting marketing, and defining Community Reinvestment Act assessment areas.

The FDIC has released its first quarter 2016 state profiles. The profiles are a quarterly data sheet summation of banking and economic conditions in each state.

April 2016 G.19 consumer credit data have been released by the Federal Reserve Board. In April, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4-1/2 percent. Revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 2 percent, while nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 5-1/2 percent.

The CFPB has announced the update of its eRegulations platform by adding Regulations C (HMDA), X (RESPA), and DD (TISA). In addition, the Regulation Z eRegulation has been updated to include all amendments through May 2016.

The Federal Trade Commission has provided its 2015 Annual Enforcement Activities Report to the CFPB. The report covers enforcement and related activities regarding Regulations Z (Truth in Lending Act), M (Consumer Leasing Act), and E (Electronic Fund Transfer Act). It addresses, among other things, the Commission’s enforcement actions related to non-mortgage credit -- including automobile purchases and financing, car title loans, payday lending, and consumer electronics financing -- and mortgage-related credit such as forensic audit scams; rulemaking, research, and policy development related to truth in lending; and consumer and business education regarding truth in lending requirements. It also addresses consumer leasing enforcement actions, as well as negative option and other cases involving electronic fund transfers, and rulemaking related to electronic fund transfers.

In a presentation at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, Federal Reserve Board Chair Yellen discussed recent economic developments, the outlook, and their implications for monetary policy. She noted, “the positive economic forces have outweighed the negative, and despite the challenges that the economy continues to face, I continue to expect further progress toward our employment and inflation objectives.” Yellen also said, “there is considerable uncertainty about the economic outlook.” She identified four areas of uncertainty: the thrust and resilience of domestic demand; uncertainty of the economic situation abroad; uncertainty for the U.S. economy; and how quickly inflation will move back to 2 percent. Yellen indicated “My overall assessment is that the current stance of monetary policy is generally appropriate, in that it is providing support to the economy by encouraging further labor market improvement that will help return inflation to 2 percent. At the same time, I continue to think that the federal funds rate will probably need to rise gradually over time to ensure price stability and maximum sustainable employment in the longer run.”

HUD has announced the final nine Promise Zones across the country—high poverty areas in select urban, rural and tribal communities. The newly designated Promise Zones join 13 others designated in 2014 and 2015. The Federal government will work strategically with local leaders to boost economic activity and job growth, improve educational opportunities, reduce crime and leverage private investment to improve the quality of life in these vulnerable areas.

The NCUA has announced that March 31, 2016 Call Report data indicate credit unions continued to increase their lending, with loans outstanding increasing 10.7 percent in the year ending in the first quarter of 2016. Chairman Metsger remarked on the data, saying, “Overall, new and used auto lending was especially strong, and the system gained one million members. With an influx of deposits, federally insured shares at credit unions also neared the $1 trillion mark coming in at $991.7 billion. As credit union lending has increased, long-term investments have declined and reduced the system’s interest rate risk. However, delinquency and charge-off rates are slightly higher than a year ago, and member business loan delinquencies are rising even more. Credit unions making such loans should take note and ensure that they perform proper due diligence to mitigate the risk.”

The FDIC has released the ratings received by 67 state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. Three of the banks were rated outstanding, 63 were found to be satisfactory, and one obtained a needs to improve rating.