President Obama signed the long-term highway funding bill into law on December 4, 2015. As part of its funding for transportation and infrastructure spending through 2020, the bill raids the wallets of larger banks and the Federal Reserve System. Accompanying these unprecedented funding mechanisms (the sticks) are several regulatory relief provisions for the banking industry…

CFPB Annual Dollar Amount Adjustments for 2016   The federal banking regulators have issued several final rules to update regulatory dollar thresholds for 2016. The adjustments are effective January 1, 2016. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) The asset size threshold for an exemption from HMDA reporting will remain at $44 million (12 CFR 1003.2).  Regulation Z…

A new Illinois law opens the door for Illinois banks, savings banks, and credit unions to conduct savings promotion raffles and promote prize-linked savings products, effective January 1, 2016. The Illinois legislation, Public Act 99-149, comes on the heels of recent federal legislation authorizing the use of savings promotion raffles, the American Savings Promotion Act.…

The OCC has issued guidance outlining safety and soundness and risk management considerations for national banks and federal savings associations offering tax refund-related products. The OCC defines “tax refund-related products” to include credit products (such as “refund anticipation loans” and “holiday loans”), deposit products (such as special purpose deposit accounts and prepaid cards), and the…

On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, the CFPB and the Federal Reserve Board hosted the fifth and final webinar on the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures Rule, which has a proposed effective date of October 3, 2015. The webinar reviewed common questions that the CFPB has received about the new rules. Listen to the recording and download the…

The four federal banking agencies (FDIC, OCC, FRB and CFPB), along with two other agencies (SEC and NCUA), have released new uniform standards for assessing a financial institution’s diversity policies and practices. The standards were first proposed as a policy statement in October of 2013. The final policy statement includes some additional clarifying language and…

U.S. policy regarding Cuba has been changing rapidly. Late last year, President Obama announced a number of U.S. policy changes toward Cuba, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a final rule which became effective on January 16, 2015, amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, with an explanatory FAQ. Most recently, Cuba was…

Beginning on July 1, 2015, Illinois law will prohibit charging ATM fees for transactions involving an EPPICard, which is a general use reloadable card issued by the State of Illinois for child support payments. These cards are similar to Link Cards, which are issued by the Illinois Department of Human Services to individuals who receive…

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new rules to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by any federal contractor, including financial institutions (by virtue of their federal deposit insurance). The rules implement a recent Executive Order adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the prohibited bases of discrimination…

A recent 7th Circuit decision interprets the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) as requiring mortgage servicers to credit electronic mortgage payments on the day a borrower authorizes the payment on the servicer’s website, rather than waiting until the servicer actually receives the borrower’s funds. In this case, a servicer permitted borrowers to make mortgage payments electronically…