The White House announced Feb. 24 that President Trump signed an executive order requiring every executive branch agency to establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to eliminate red tape.
Each task force will evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding repeal, replacement or modification of regulations that:
• Eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation;
• Are outdated, unnecessary or ineffective;
• Impose costs that exceed benefits;
• Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies;
• Rely on data, information or methods that are not publicly available or that are insufficiently transparent to meet the standard for reproducibility; or
• Derive from or implement executive orders or other presidential directives that have been subsequently rescinded or substantially modified.
To read more about the executive order, click here.
FinCEN proposes SAR data filing revisions
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is seeking comment 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. The 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 on the proposed changes are due by April 3.
To read the Federal Register notice, click here.
CFPB announces plan to gather student loan servicing data
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Feb. 23 published in the Federal Register a notice and request for comment on a proposed new information collection titled “Student Loan Servicing Market Monitoring.” The notice indicates the bureau expects the collection will affect only 10 respondents, presumably the largest student loan servicers.
Comments on the proposal will be accepted through April 24.
The Federal Register notice is available by clicking here.
Credit unions
NCUA acting chairman outlines plans to relax regulations
National Credit Union Administration Acting Board Chairman J. Mark McWatters informed credit unions that they can anticipate a “thoughtful loosening” of regulations, a streamlined agency budget, and the possible closure of the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund in 2017. He announced those plans during a speech to approximately 5,000 people at the Credit Union National Association’s annual Governmental Affairs Conference.
McWatters described 15 issues he wants to address to reduce regulatory burdens while ensuring safety and soundness of the credit union system, including:
• Revisiting the agency’s pending risk-based capital rule scheduled to take effect in January 2019;
• Continued review of an extended examination cycle;
• Re-evaluation of the stress-testing rule for the largest credit unions;
• Streamlining the agency’s budget; and
• Doing more to help credit unions serve members better.
To learn more, click here.
NCUA Report changes to quarterly publication
The National Credit Union Administration’s NCUA Report newsletter is moving to a quarterly instead of a monthly publication schedule, the agency announced Feb. 24. The next issues in 2017 will be available in May, August and November.
The February 2017 issue is now available online.
More compliance news
FinCEN renews Geographic Targeting Orders in six metro areas
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Feb. 23 announced the renewal of existing Geographic Targeting Orders that temporarily require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used to pay all cash for high-end residential real estate in six major metropolitan areas. FinCEN reported about 30% of the transactions covered by the GTOs involved a beneficial owner or purchaser representative that is also the subject of a previous suspicious activity report. According to FinCEN, this corroborates the agency’s concerns about the use of shell companies to buy luxury real estate in all-cash transactions. The renewed GTOs, which will be effective for 180 days from Feb. 24, include the following major U.S. geographic areas (shown with their purchase price thresholds):
• Borough of Manhattan, New York City — $3 million;
• All other boroughs of New York City — $1.5 million;
• Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, FL — $1 million;
• San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, CA — $2 million; and
• Bexar County (which includes San Antonio), TX — $500,000.
To read more about the GTOs, click here.
FEMA suspends communities from flood insurance program
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Feb. 17 published a final rule identifying communities where the sale of flood insurance authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program has been suspended for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. The affected areas include portions of portions of Arapahoe County in Colorado; portions of Peoria, Tazewell and Whiteside counties in Illinois; and the city of Norfolk and portions of Loudoun County in Virginia.
More information about the final rule is available by clicking here.
CFPB report focus on credit reporting complaints
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s February 2017 Monthly Complaint Report highlighted consumer complaints about credit reporting. The report showed consumers continue to have issues with consumer reporting companies in resolving errors on their credit reports. The report also highlighted trends seen in complaints coming from Louisiana.
The full report can be read by clicking here.
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