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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has reported that 13,220 borrowers refinanced their mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) from October through December. FHFA's fourth quarter Refinance Report also shows that total refinance volume fell in December, as mortgage interest rates increased. Total HARP refinances now stand at 3,447,671 since the inception of the program in 2009.

The FRB has released its January 2017 G.17 industrial production and capacity utilization report. Industrial production decreased 0.3 percent in January following a 0.6 percent increase in December. In January, manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent, and mining output jumped 2.8 percent. The index for utilities fell 5.7 percent, largely because unseasonably warm weather reduced the demand for heating. At 104.6 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in January was at about the same level as it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector fell 0.3 percentage point in January to 75.3 percent, a rate that is 4.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average.

Treasury has released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for December 2016. The sum total in December of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC outflow of $42.8 billion. Of this, net foreign private outflows were $57.1 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $14.3 billion. Foreign residents decreased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in December; net sales were $13.9 billion. Net sales by private foreign investors were $32.0 billion, while net purchases by foreign official institutions were $18.1 billion. U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $1.1 billion.

In a press release coordinated to coincide with the CFPB's Charleston, West Virginia, February 16 field hearing on Alternative Data, the Bureau announced this morning it has launched an inquiry into ways to expand access to credit for consumers who are credit invisible or who lack enough credit history to obtain a credit score. The Bureau is seeking public feedback on the benefits and risks of tapping alternative data sources such as bills for mobile phones and rent payments to make lending decisions about consumers whose lack of credit history might otherwise block opportunities. Specifically, the Bureau will explore these, and other, topics:

• Access to credit
• Complexity of the process
• Impact on costs and service
• Implications for privacy and security
• Impact on specific groups

The CFPB has updated the compliance resources available on HMDA filing requirements. Added resources include a webinar discussing identifiers and other data points, and a chart that illustrates banks' options for collecting and reporting ethnicity and race information required under Regulation C.

The Federal Trade Commission has reported that GC Services Limited Partnership, a large debt collector based in Houston, Texas, that has been charged with using unlawful tactics to collect on federal student loans and other debts, will pay a $700,000 civil penalty under a settlement with the Commission. The complaint filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the Commission alleged that the company’s collectors left phone messages that illegally disclosed purported debts to others without their permission. GC Services employees also called consumers multiple times after being told that the person who answered did not owe the debt, that they had called the wrong person, or that the person they wanted could not be reached there. According to the Commission, GC Services also falsely claimed that it would take steps to prevent its employees from making unlawful calls to third parties to find a debtor. See our Penalty page for further information.

The Federal Trade Commission has sent to the CFPB a summary and the full text of its report of 2016 work on debt collection practices for inclusion in the CFPB’s annual report to Congress on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The FTC and the CFPB share FDCPA enforcement responsibilities. In 2016, the Commission:

• filed or resolved 12 cases against 61 defendants, and obtained nearly $70 million in judgments
• banned 44 companies and individuals that engaged in serious and repeated violations of law from ever working in debt collection again
• secured successful summary judgment decisions in three litigated matters, resulting in orders banning defendants from the debt collection industry

The FDIC has issued FIL-9-2017 announcing steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and to facilitate recovery in areas of Louisiana affected by severe weather.

FinCEN has published at 82 FR 9109 in the Federal Register a notice and request for comments on a proposed update and revisions to the collection of information filings by financial institutions required to file such reports under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). This notice does not propose any new regulatory requirements or changes to the requirements related to suspicious activity reporting. The data fields reflect the filing requirement for all filers of SARs under the BSA. Most of the proposed changes would alter the "checklist" of violations in Part II of the filings, including the addition of several fields related to cyber events. Comments are due by April 3, 2017.

OFAC has designated Venezuelan national Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (El Aissami) as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker (SDNT) pursuant to the Kingpin Act for playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking. El Aissami is the Executive Vice President of Venezuela. El Aissami's primary frontman, Venezuelan national Samark Jose Lopez Bello (Lopez Bello), was also designated. OFAC further designated or identified as blocked property 13 companies owned or controlled by Lopez Bello or other designated parties that comprise an international network spanning the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. Five of those entities are LLCs registered in Florida. See our OFAC Update for additional information.