Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry discussed the condition of the federal banking system in remarks delivered March 9 at Central Connecticut State University. He also highlighted the importance of diversity in the federal banking system, and what the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has done to support community banking. Curry also discussed proposals to exempt community banks from the Volcker Rule and provide more flexibility for thrifts to expand their business models without changing their governance structures.
To read more about Curry’s speech, click here.
Trump meets with CEOs of community banks
President Trump met with CEOs of small and community banks to discuss regulatory relief and other issues during the National Economic Council Listening Session on March 9.
“Community banks play a vital role in helping create jobs by providing approximately half of all loans to small businesses, and that’s been dwindling because the community banks have been in big trouble,” Trump said during remarks at the meeting. “Nearly half of all private-sector workers are employed by small businesses. We must ensure access to capital … Community banks are the backbone of small business in America.”
To read more of Trump’s remarks, click here.
OCC issues fintech licensing draft supplement
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released a draft Licensing Manual supplement for evaluating special purpose national bank charter applications from financial technology companies. The supplement explains how the OCC will apply the licensing standards and requirements of existing regulations and policies to fintech companies. It also describes unique factors the agency will consider in evaluating fintech applications, expectations for promoting fair access, fair treatment and financial inclusion, and the agency’s approach to supervision of fintech companies that become national banks. A summary of comments and explanatory statement also were released. Comments on the draft document will be accepted through April 14 and can be submitted to specialpurposecharter@occ.treas.gov.
The draft supplement is available by clicking here.
FinCEN releases SAR Stats bulletin
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has released the SAR Stats Technical Bulletin for March 2017. SAR Stats (formerly By the Numbers) is a compilation of numerical data gathered from the FinCEN Suspicious Activity Reports filed by financial institutions and other financial services businesses, as well as casinos and insurance companies. SAR Stats is published as a full report once a year. The SAR data is arranged by filing industry type and ranking.
The bulletin is available by clicking here.
Credit unions
NCUA releases annual report for 2016
The National Credit Union Administration recently issued its 2016 Annual Report. The report assesses NCUA’s performance in meeting its strategic and agency priority goals and objectives, as well as discusses future challenges facing credit unions and the NCUA. The agency’s initiatives and accomplishments are grouped into categories that reflect the agency’s strategic goals and priorities outlined in the 2014–2017 Strategic Plan and the 2016–2017 Annual Performance Plan. The report also contains the complete audited financial statements of NCUA’s four permanent funds, and assurances of the agency’s compliance with financial management and other relevant laws. It also includes statistics on credit union financial performance since 2011.
To read the annual report, click here.
More compliance news
CFPB proposes delay of prepaid accounts rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced March 9 a proposed delay for six months the effective date of its final rule governing prepaid accounts. The bureau indicated it has learned that some industry participants believe they will have difficulty complying with certain provisions of the rule by the current Oct. 1, 2017 effective date. The new proposed effective date for the rule is April 1, 2018.
The CFPB is requesting comments about any implementation challenges that may affect consumers, and how the proposed delay will impact the industry, consumers and other stakeholders. The deadline for comments is April 5.
The bureau also has made available a guide to preparing the short form disclosure for prepaid accounts. The guide is based on Regulation E’s Model Form A-10(c) and provides basic instructions to help financial institutions prepare short form disclosures for prepaid accounts other than government benefit accounts or payroll card accounts.
To learn more about CFPB’s proposed delay of the rule, click here.
FTC releases annual survey of consumer complaints
The Federal Trade Commission on March 3 released its annual summary of consumer complaints. The Consumer Sentinel Network received more than 3 million complaints during 2016.
Debt collection was the number one complaint category with 28% of the overall complaints, followed by impostor scams (13%); identity theft (13%); telephone and mobile services (10%); banks and lenders (5%); prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries (5%); shop-at-home and catalog sales (4%); auto-related complaints (3%); credit bureaus, information furnishers and report users (2%); and television and electronic media (2%). There are 30 ranked complaint categories.
The FTC report is available by clicking here.
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