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HUD has announced a $22,600 Conciliation Agreement between Housing Equality Law Project and the owners and managers of a San Diego-based property management company, settling allegations that they discriminated against persons with disabilities who required the use of assistance animals. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from denying or limiting housing to persons with disabilities or from refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices. This includes waiving no pet policies for assistance or service animals.

HUD has announced it is charging the owner of a Springfield, Massachusetts, rental property with violating the Fair Housing Act. The charges allege that the landlord told the family that he would not rent an apartment to them because they had a child under the age of six and were also expecting another baby. They further allege that the landlord had a policy prohibiting children younger than six from residing on the premises and requiring pregnant women to notify the landlord and vacate their apartment. HUD also claims that almost immediately after the complainants filed their complaint with HUD, the landlord began eviction proceedings against them and the wife’s mother.

OFAC has updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding payments or the facilitation of payments to Iranian Civil Aviation Authorities for overflights of Iran or landing in Iran.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the statement issued by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) after its March 2016 meeting. The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent.

The list of bank holding companies, who have as of April 18, 2016, elected to become or be treated as financial holding companies has been released by the Federal Reserve Board.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued Bulletin 2016-13 to remind national banks and federal savings associations (collectively, banks) of their obligations related to the maintenance of records, records retention, and examiner access to records. The OCC has become aware of communications technology recently made available to banks that could prevent or impede OCC access to bank records through certain data deletion or encryption features. Use of communications technology in this manner is inconsistent with the OCC's expectations regarding data retention and availability.

The FDIC has issued FIL-30-2016 announcing the update of the Financial Institution Employee's Guide to Deposit Insurance. The Guide is designed primarily as a resource for bank employees to understand the FDIC's rules and requirements for deposit insurance coverage so they can assist depositors in understanding FDIC deposit insurance coverage.

A Pakistani national and former D.C. business owner who served the last eight years in federal prison for conspiring to launder money and concealing terrorist financing has been turned over to authorities in Islamabad by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced and published a fact sheet seeking public comment a on a proposed national market system (NMS) plan to create a single, comprehensive database that would enable regulators to efficiently track all trading activity in the U.S. equity and options market. The plan for the database, known as the consolidated audit trail (CAT), was submitted jointly by the self-regulatory organizations (SROs).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published in today's Federal Register a final rule making final each of the following interim final rules it published in December 2011, subject to intervening amendments: 12 CFR Parts 1002 (Regulation B), 1003 (Regulation C), 1005 (Regulation E), 1006 (Regulation F), 1007 (Regulation G), 1008 (Regulation H), 1009 (Regulation I), 1010 (Regulation J), 1011 (Regulation K), 1012 (Regulation L), 1013 (Regulation M), 1014 (Regulation N), 1015 (Regulation O), 1016 (Regulation P), 1022 (Regulation V), 1024 (Regulation X), 1026 (Regulation Z), and 1030 (Regulation DD). The rule is effective today, with its publication.

Jennifer Shasky Calvery announced Tuesday that she will be leaving her position as Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the end of May. Ms. Calvery has served as FinCEN’s director since September 2012. The Treasury Department has not announced a successor for the position.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has added two new resources to its Regulatory Implementation page:

• Fact sheet for small creditors operating in rural or underserved areas
• Chart on eligibility for making various types of qualified mortgages

The FDIC has issued FIL-29-2016 announcing steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and to facilitate recovery in areas of Texas affected by severe weather.

The CFPB has released its latest monthly consumer complaint snapshot, this time highlighting consumer complaints related to mortgages. The report shows that consumers continue to encounter servicing problems when they are unable to make payments. This month’s snapshot also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from California.

HUD has announced an agreement with a group of Las Vegas landlords settling allegations they retaliated against a tenant with disabilities because she requested permission to install a ramp that would allow her to enter and exit her apartment. The case came to HUD's attention after the tenant, who has a mobility disability, filed a complaint alleging that the owners and managers of Las Vegas Manor Apartments and their on-site agents refused to renew her lease in retaliation for making a request for the installation of a ramp. The tenant alleged that she made repeated requests to the owners for a ramp, which they generally provided to tenants free of charge. The owners eventually agreed to install the ramp, but soon after installing it, they refused to renew the tenant's lease. During HUD’s investigation, one of the owners' agents indicated that he objected to the tenant's manner of requesting the ramp and, because of that, opted not to renew her lease.

The Federal Reserve Board has posted a notice of an open meeting of the Board to be held at 2:00 p.m. on May 3, 2016. Matters to be considered:

• Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Net Stable Funding Ratio;
• Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Restrictions on Qualified Financial Contracts of Systemically Important U.S. Banking Organizations and the U.S. Operations of Systemically Important Foreign Banking Organizations.

The FDIC has approved a final rule that amends the way small banks are assessed for deposit insurance. The final rule affects banks with less than $10 billion in assets that have been FDIC-insured for at least five years. It updates the data and revises the methodology that the FDIC uses to determine risk-based assessments for these institutions to better reflect risks and to help ensure that banks that take on greater risks pay more for deposit insurance than their less risky counterparts. The FDIC also updated its current and future assessment calculators page and issued FIL-28-2016 regarding small bank pricing. Chairman Gruenberg issued a statement on the final rule.

Update: This rule was published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2016, at 81 FR 32179. The effective date is July 1, 2016.

The NCUA has announced it will accept grant applications for Community Development Revolving Loan Fund assistance grants between June 1–30. Interested credit unions may submit one application for all initiatives using NCUA's CyberGrants program. The four eligible initiatives and maximum grant awards are:

• Capacity and growth: Credit unions considering new lending programs, deposit products or other growth strategies to increase members' financial service opportunities may apply for up to $15,000 in assistance.
• Cyber security: Up to $7,000 will be available for each eligible credit union to enhance cyber security and protect member information.
• Staff training: Grants of up to $3,000 will be available for selected credit unions to pay for training related to credit union operations, including compliance, lending and collections.
• Student internships: Up to $4,000 will be available to each credit union to hire students enrolled in high school or college.

The NCUA will offer a 90-minute webinar, “NCUA 2016 Grant & Loan Opportunities,” to help credit unions learn more about the grant process. The webinar will be held Wednesday, May 11, beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced its approval of a proposed rule that would, if the proposal is also approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Association, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, revise the proposed rule the Agencies published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2011, to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 956 generally requires that the Agencies jointly issue regulations or guidelines: (1) prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements that the Agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss; and (2) requiring those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate Federal regulator. Comptroller Curry issued a statement on the proposal before the FDIC Board approved the proposal.

Update: Published at 81 FR 37669, on 6/10/16, in the Federal Register. Comments due by July 22, 2016.

HUD and the Census Bureau have released their March 2016 new residential sales report. Sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, 1.5 percent below the revised February rate of 519,000 and 5.4 percent above the March 2015 estimate of 485,000. The median sales price of new houses sold was $288,000 and the average sales price was $356,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 246,000, which represents a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate. An FAQs page on the report was also released.

The CFPB has announced the issuance of consent orders to the debt collection law firm Pressler & Pressler, LLP, two of its principal partners, and New Century Financial Services, Inc., a debt buyer, to stop churning out unfair and deceptive debt collection lawsuits based on flimsy or nonexistent evidence, and to pay a total of $2.5 million in civil money penalties. See "Lawsuit mill barred and pays $2.5M for churning," in our Penalties pages, for more information.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has publishing in this morning's Federal Register a notice that it is reopening the comment period for a specific aspect of the proposed rule published by the Bureau in the Federal Register on December 15, 2014 (79 FR 74176 -- see our December 16, 2014, Top Story). The 2014 proposal included amendments to certain mortgage servicing provisions in Regulation X and Regulation Z. Among other things, the proposed rule: addressed requiring servicers to provide modified periodic statements under Regulation Z to consumers who have filed for bankruptcy, subject to certain exceptions; included related proposed sample periodic statement forms; and indicated that the Bureau intended to conduct consumer testing of the proposed sample forms and would publish and seek comment on a report summarizing the methods and results of such testing prior to finalizing any sample forms. The original comment period to the proposed rule closed on March 16, 2015. The Bureau now reopens the comment period until May 26, 2016, to seek comment specifically on the report summarizing consumer testing of sample periodic statement forms for consumers in bankruptcy.

Updated 4/27/2016 to provide link to report.

HUD has announced a $1 million agreement between the Fair Housing Project of North Carolina Legal Aid and North Carolina-based The Fidelity Bank to resolve allegations the mortgage lender engaged in unfair lending practices against minority applicants. Under the agreement, Fidelity will make investments and community development loans in predominantly minority census tracts where at least 40 percent of these loans will specifically promote affordable housing. Fidelity also committed to earmarking at least $500,000 each year for two years, for a total of $1 million and prominently display its non-discrimination policies at that branch in English and Spanish, and provide fair lending training to staff, including loan originators and employees engaged in loan processing and underwriting.

The Federal Reserve Board has issued SR 16-9 announcing the release of a list of inactive Supervision and Regulation (SR) letters. Most SR letters identified have been determined to be inactive and no longer applicable to the Federal Reserve's supervision program. A brief explanation indicating why each letter has been made inactive is included. In many cases, the information transmitted in these issuances was a point-in-time announcement, or has become outdated, or has been superseded by subsequent regulations, policies, and guidance. In some instances, letters were made inactive because more comprehensive guidance on the topic can be located in the Commercial Bank Examination Manual or the Bank Holding Company Supervision Manual.

The FDIC has issued a notice that an item has been added to the previously announced agenda for the April 26, 2016, meeting of the FDIC Board:

• Memorandum and resolution re: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Implement Liquidity Risk Standards for Certain FDIC Supervised Institutions.

The video of the March 2016 NCUA Board meeting is available online.

The Bureau has announced upgrades to its consumerfinance.gov site to help users quickly and easily browse the information, tools, and reports that the Bureau provides. Examples of the improvements are provided in the announcement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has published in this morning's Federal Register a final rule [81 FR 24033] to identify communities in Pennsylvania where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that are scheduled for suspension on June 2, 2016, for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program.

FEMA has published in today's Federal Register a correction of its March 30, 2016, final rule suspending communities in Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin from the Flood Insurance Program. See our March 30 Top Story for more information.

OFAC has announced the update of its frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding Cuba with new FAQs #62, 63, 67, 68, 80, 81, 93, and 97.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its February House Price Index (HPI). U.S. house prices rose in February, up 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from January, The previously reported 0.5 percent increase in January was revised downward to reflect a 0.4 percent increase. The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. From February 2015 to February 2016, house prices were up 5.6 percent. The index levels since October 2015 have exceeded the prior peak level from March 2007. For detailed information on the monthly HPI, see the HPI FAQs. Complete historical data can be found on the HPI Data page.

The appointment of Matthew J. Eichner as director of the Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems has been announced by the Federal Reserve Board. As division director, Mr. Eichner will be responsible for the division's oversight of:

• Federal Reserve Banks' operations
• The development of regulations and policies governing payment, clearing, and settlement systems
• The supervision of systemically important financial market infrastructures
• Carrying out the Board's responsibilities as issuance authority for U.S. currency
• Fostering improvements to the efficiency and integrity of the U.S. payments system more broadly; and the division's research program focused on a variety of payment, clearing, and settlement topics.

In a presentation to the participants at the Eurofi High Level Seminar 2016 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Chairman Gruenberg discussed the significant progress that has been made to foster cross-border cooperation among the major jurisdictions of the world on the resolution of systemically important financial institutions, as well as the work of the FDIC on this critically important issue. He noted that in the United States, provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act provided essential new authorities to manage the orderly failure of a systemically important financial institution. The Chairman also discussed the FDIC’s role as an insurer of deposits held in the U.S. banking system.

The CFPB has announced its filing of complaints in federal court against two co-founders of a company that resold loan applications containing sensitive personal data to lenders and data brokers without assessing the sources of those leads or the purchasers they sold to. In the complaints the CFPB alleges that Dmitry Fomichev and Davit Gasparyan (also known as David Gasparyan) co-founded and operated T3Leads, a lead aggregator that bought and sold payday and installment loan applications without properly vetting buyers and sellers. The CFPB filed a separate lawsuit against T3Leads and two other individuals in December 2015.

Treasury has announced the allocation of the final $1 billion in funds under the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF). Thirteen of the 19 participating HHF states will receive additional funds, which were allocated through a competitive application process. In order to qualify for funds in this phase, state housing finance agencies (HFAs) were required to submit detailed applications that demonstrated an ongoing need for additional funding to prevent foreclosures and stabilize housing markets, and lay out a reasonable plan of action to address those needs and fully utilize the funds by December 31, 2020. The Department also posted FAQs with additional information on the HHF allocations.

Treasury Secretary Lew has announced plans for the new $20, $10 and $5 notes, with the portrait of Harriet Tubman to be featured on the front of the new $20. The reverse of the new $10 will feature an image of the historic march for suffrage that ended on the steps of the Treasury Department and honor the leaders of the suffrage movement—Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul. The front of the new $10 note will maintain the portrait of Alexander Hamilton. The reverse of the new $5 will honor events at the Lincoln Memorial that helped to shape our history and our democracy and prominent individuals involved in those events, including Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. The reverse of the new $20 will feature images of the White House and President Andrew Jackson. Federal Reserve Chair Yellen also issued a statement on the redesign of the currency. The first of the newly designed notes should enter circulation in 2020.

A letter from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has been sent to Sixth District financial institutions concerning preparations for the upcoming hurricane season and emergency contact information.

The start times for the three FTC Fall Technology Series seminars will be at 1 p.m. ET at the FTC's Constitution Center offices, at 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC. The topics will include:

• Ransomware – September 7 – computer malware by which hackers remotely encrypt consumers' and businesses' valuable files and demand a ransom payment for the key to decrypt the information.
• Drones – October 13 – unmanned aerial vehicles that have both enormous potential commercial benefits and similarly significant privacy implications.
• Smart TV – December 7 – the advent of web-style tracking and analytics in television, which allows advertisers and content producers to monitor consumers' viewing habits in unexpected ways.

The CFPB has reported that research indicates online payday loans, also known as "cash advances" or "check loans," can offer quick access to money. A CFPB report found that attempts by online lenders to debit payments from a consumer’s checking account add a steep, hidden cost to online payday loans. Half of online borrowers rack up an average of $185 in bank penalties because at least one debit attempt overdrafts or fails. Further, one third of those borrowers who get hit with a bank penalty wind up having their accounts closed involuntarily. The study also found that despite this high cost to consumers, lenders' repeated debit attempts typically fail to collect payments. The Bureau also released prepared remarks from Director Cordray on the report.

The Bureau will hold an arbitration field hearing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 5 beginning at 11 a.m. The hearing will feature remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public. The event will be streamed on the Bureau Blog.