Seven areas of compliance – including those regarding the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) – are included in the updated Compliance Examination Manual (CEM) released by the federal insurer of bank deposits Tuesday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said the manual – which is used by agency exam staff to conduct compliance examinations, CRA performance evaluations, and other supervisory activities – updates sections including:
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (section V-9.1): The asset size exemption thresholds were updated.
- Community Reinvestment Act (XI-1.1): Asset-based definitions for small banks and intermediate small banks were updated.
- CRA Data Review Timeframes and Sampling Guidelines (XI-11.1): The chapter was updated to provide updated examination instructions on review timeframes and sampling procedures for CRA evaluations.
- Electronic Fund Transfer Act (VI-2.1): The EFTA chapter was updated to incorporate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) amendments to Regulation E and Regulation Z related to prepaid accounts, effective April 1, 2019.
- Truth in Lending Act (V-1.1): The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) chapter was updated to incorporate the CFPB’s amendments to Regulation E and Regulation Z related to prepaid accounts, effective April 1, 2019. The chapter was also updated to reflect several annual threshold changes. The escrow exemption and the appraisal exemption thresholds for higher-priced mortgages and the credit card penalty fee safe harbor amount were increased.
- SOURCE Violation Codes (II-14.1): Some SOURCE violation codes were updated to reflect current references to the United States Code (U.S.C.) and to update verbiage. No new violation codes were added or deactivated in this release.
- Consumer Leasing Act (V-10.1): The exemption threshold for consumer credit and lease transactions were increased.
The agency said that while the manual is designed to promote consistency and efficiency in the examination process and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, banks and thrifts can use it to learn about the FDIC’s examination process. Generally, the manual includes supervisory policies and examination procedures for evaluating financial institutions’ compliance with federal consumer protection laws and regulations.