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The CFPB has published in today's Federal Register a notice and request for information to identify opportunities to utilize Tech Sprints as a means to encourage regulatory innovation and collaborate with stakeholders in developing viable solutions to regulatory compliance challenges. Tech Sprints have been used successfully by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom to gather regulators, technologists, financial institutions, and subject matter experts from key stakeholders for several days to work together to develop innovative solutions to clearly-identified challenges.

Tech Sprints have also been used by the U.S. Census Bureau, where tech companies, universities, government and communities together worked to translate U.S. government open data into useful digital products over the course of a 12-week sprint. At the end of the sprint, products launched and often moved on to full development as tools for the public.

Comments are due by November 8, 2019.

The CFPB has issued three new policies to promote innovation and facilitate compliance: the No-Action Letter (NAL) Policy, Trial Disclosure Program (TDP) Policy, and Compliance Assistance Sandbox (CAS) Policy.

No-action letters provide increased regulatory certainty through a statement that the Bureau will not bring a supervisory or enforcement action against a company for providing a product or service under certain facts and circumstances. The Bureau has issued its first NAL under the new NAL Policy in response to a request by HUD on behalf of more than 1,600 housing counseling agencies (HCAs) that participate in HUD’s housing counseling program. The no-action letter essentially states that the Bureau will not take supervisory or enforcement action under RESPA against HUD-certified HCAs that have entered into certain fee-for-service arrangements with lenders for pre-purchasing of housing counseling services. The Bureau also released a No-Action Letter Template for mortgage lenders to apply for a NAL for any HUD-required MOU between the mortgage lender and a participating counseling agency under a Housing Counseling Funding Agreement.

Under the new TDP Policy, entities seeking to improve consumer disclosures may conduct in-market testing of alternative disclosures for a limited time upon permission by the Bureau.

The CAS Policy enables testing of a financial product or service where there is regulatory uncertainty. After the Bureau evaluates the product or service for compliance with relevant law, an approved applicant that complies in good faith with the terms of the approval will have a “safe harbor” from liability for specified conduct during the testing period. Approvals under the CAS Policy will provide protection from liability under the Truth in Lending Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, or the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

UPDATE: The policies were published in the Federal Register 9/13/2019:
NAL policy: 84 FR 48229
TDP policy: 84 FR 48260
CAS policy: 84 FR 48246

The CFPB announced Tuesday the launch of the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network (ACFIN) to enhance coordination among federal and state regulators to facilitate financial innovation.

Initial state members of ACFIN are the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. All state regulators have been invited to join.

The OCC has announced it will host two workshops at the Federal Reserve Bank of Los Angeles, October 22 and 23, for directors of institutions supervised by the OCC:

• The Compliance Risk workshop on October 22 focuses on the critical elements of an effective compliance risk management program. Topics of discussion include the Bank Secrecy Act, Flood Disaster Protection Act, Fair Lending, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Community Reinvestment Act, and other compliance hot topics.
• The Operational Risk workshop on October 23 focuses on the key components of operational risk—people, processes, and systems. The workshop also covers governance, third-party risk, vendor management, internal fraud, and cybersecurity.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Google LLC and its subsidiary YouTube LLC have agreed to pay a federal civil money penalty of $136 million and a New York State penalty of $34 million to settle allegations that YouTube violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule by collecting personal information—in the form of persistent identifiers that are used to track users across the Internet—from viewers of child-directed channels, without first notifying parents and getting their consent. YouTube earned millions of dollars by using the identifiers, commonly known as cookies, to deliver targeted ads to viewers of these channels, according to the complaint.

Google and YouTube also agreed to develop, implement, and maintain a system that permits channel owners to identify their child-directed content on the YouTube platform so that YouTube can ensure it is complying with COPPA. In addition, the companies must notify channel owners that their child-directed content may be subject to the COPPA Rule’s obligations and provide annual training about complying with COPPA for employees who deal with YouTube channel owners.

For additional information, see "YouTube pays $170M for COPPA violations," in BankersOnline's Penalty pages.

The Federal Communications Commission has published [84 FR 45669] in today's Federal Register a final rule amending its Truth in Caller ID rules in subpart P of 47 CFR part 64 to implement the amendments to section 227(e) of the Communications Act adopted by Congress last year as part of the RAY BAUM'S Act. The rule published today amends the FCC's rules to encompass malicious spoofing activities directed at consumers in the United States from actors outside of the U.S. and to reach caller ID spoofing using alternative voice and text messaging services. The amendments carry a February 5, 2020, effective date.

FDIC FIL-47-2019, issued yesterday, announced an update to the agency's Risk Management Manual of Examination Policies (the Manual) to incorporate a new section titled Risk-Focused, Forward-Looking Safety and Soundness Supervision. The latter describes the FDIC's long-standing philosophy and methods for supervising institutions by focusing on the areas presenting the greatest risks. The new section has been included in the new Part VI of the Manual titled "Appendix: Examination Processes and Tools," and describes communication and risk-tailoring principles followed during safety and soundness examination activities.

In prepared remarks delivered yesterday at the 12th annual Las Vegas Anti-Money Laundering Conference, FinCEN Director Blanco discussed:

• His perspective on how new technologies are impacting AML/CFT and financial crime detection, particularly sports betting and mobile gaming;
• How FinCEN’s recent guidance on Convertible Virtual Currency is something that casinos need to pay attention to;
• The importance of a strong culture of compliance within casinos; and
• An overview of FinCEN’s ongoing work related to regulatory reform, innovation, and BSA value.

The OCC will hold Innovation Office Hours October 8–10, in Washington, D.C. Office Hours are hour-long one-on-one meetings with Office of Innovation staff to discuss financial technology (fintech), new products or services, partnering with a bank or fintech company, or other matters related to responsible innovation in the federal banking system.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson has announced the Federal Housing Administration will insure mortgages on mixed-use development under the agency’s Section 220 Program in thousands of lower income communities across the country. By expanding this program’s reach, HUD hopes to significantly boost private investment in Opportunity Zones and generate growth in development in neighborhoods that need it most.

HUD is also awarding $6 million to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to provide critically needed technical assistance to distressed communities with populations under 40,000, including those located in Opportunity Zones and communities struggling to recover from natural disasters.