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The CFPB has posted an article explaining that the CFPB participates in the federal agencies' Unified Agenda program and that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently posted online the CFPB's updated agenda. The objectives of the agenda are:

• Providing consumers with timely and understandable information to make responsible decisions about financial transactions
• Protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices and from discrimination
• Addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations
• Enforcing federal consumer financial law consistently in order to promote fair competition, without regard to whether providers of financial services are banks, thrifts, credit unions, or other kinds of institutions
• Promoting the transparent and efficient operation of markets for consumer financial services to facilitate access and innovation

A brief summary of the various Bureau initiatives was also provided.

HUD and the Census Bureau have released statistics on new residential construction for June 2017:

• Building Permits—Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,254,000, 7.4 percent above the revised May rate of 1,168,000 and 5.1 percent above the June 2016 rate of 1,193,000. Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 811,000, 4.1 percent above the revised May figure of 779,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 409,000 in June.
• Housing Starts—Privately owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,215,000, which is 8.3 percent above the revised May estimate of 1,122,000 and 2.1 percent above the June 2016 rate of 1,190,000. Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 849,000; 6.3 percent above the revised May figure of 799,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359,000.
• Housing Completions—Privately owned housing completions in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,203,000, 5.2 percent above the revised May estimate of 1,144,000 and 8.1 percent above the June 2016 rate of 1,113,000. Single-family housing completions in June were at a rate of 798,000, 0.4 percent above the revised May rate of 795,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 396,000.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has published a final rule in today's Federal Register identifying communities in Del Norte County, California, and Delaware County, Indiana, to be suspended from the National Flood Insurance Program on August 2, 2017, for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program.

The FDIC, OCC and Federal Reserve have jointly announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to raise the threshold for commercial real estate transactions requiring an appraisal to $400,000. Instead of an appraisal, the proposal would require that commercial real estate transactions at or below the threshold receive an evaluation. Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 60 days following Federal Register publication.

UPDATE: Published at 82 FR 35478 on July 31, 2017. Comment period expires September 29, 2017.

The CFPB published its previously announced final rule banning mandatory arbitration in the Wednesday, July 19, 2017, Federal Register, with an effective date of September 18, 2017, and compliance required in contracts entered into on or after March 19, 2018. Congress is reported to be under heavy lobbying pressure to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block the rule from becoming effective. Under the CRA, Congress has a limited "window" during which it can reject significant new federal regulations after they have been published in the Federal Register.

The Treasury Department has announced OFAC's designation of 16 entities and individuals for engaging in support of illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity. These designations include seven entities and five individuals for engaging in activities in support of Iran’s military or Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as an Iran-based transnational criminal organization and three associated persons. Treasury's announcement reported that the State Department also designated today two Iranian organizations involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program. As a result of these actions, all property and interests in property of those designated subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. For identification of those designated, see our OFAC Update.

The Bureau has posted an article announcing a report recently published by the CFPB on ways people without a credit history -- the "credit invisible" -- start building one. Credit profiles on states and cities across the country were also released.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the June 2017 G.17 industrial production and capacity utilization report. Industrial production rose 0.4 percent in June for its fifth consecutive monthly increase. Manufacturing output moved up 0.2 percent; although factory output has gone up and down in recent months, its level in June was little different from February. The index for mining posted a gain of 1.6 percent in June, just slightly below its pace in May. The index for utilities, however, remained unchanged. For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 4.7 percent, primarily as a result of strong increases for mining and utilities. Manufacturing output rose at an annual rate of 1.4 percent, a slightly slower increase than in the first quarter. At 105.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in June was 2.0 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.2 percentage point in June to 76.6 percent, a rate that is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average. A summary of the report was also released.

HUD has announced that, in an effort to prevent and effectively end homelessness, it is making $2 billion available to support thousands of local homeless assistance programs nationwide. Funded through its Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program, HUD’s funding notice encourages local applicants to use a Housing First approach to help individuals and families move quickly into permanent housing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Friday afternoon a proposal on HMDA reporting requirements for banks and credit unions that issue home-equity lines of credit. Under rules that are scheduled to take effect in January 2018, financial institutions are generally required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) to report home-equity lines of credit if they made 100 such loans in each of the last two years. The new proposal would increase that threshold to 500 loans through calendar years 2018 and 2019 so that the Bureau can consider whether to make a permanent adjustment.

The Bureau said that it has heard increasing concerns from community banks and credit unions that the challenges and costs of reporting open-end lending may be greater than the Bureau had estimated when adopting the 100-loan threshold. The CFPB estimates that the temporary 500-loan threshold would still capture about three-quarters of the home-equity lending market, down from about 88 percent at the 100-loan threshold. Comments will be accepted through July 31, 2017.

UPDATE: Published in the July 20, 2017, Federal Register.