Fire up your Modems and Hit the "Net" for Compliance Freebies!

By Richard Insley

This column is dedicated to all you compliance geeks out there in cyberspace. In each issue, Compliance Action will review a "site" on the Internet (the "Net") that offers freebies for bank compliance professionals. In the issues ahead, we will look into on-line information dealing with flood insurance, RESPA, fair lending/fair housing, OFAC, HMDA, Reg E/cyberpayments, CRA, and other favorite compliance topics. Most of your favorite federal agencies are on-line and we'll report on the good stuff they're offering. We'll introduce you to FRED, Woodrow, and Kimberly and watch while the other Federal Reserve Banks come on-line.

This month's site is the motherload of information for the compliance professional - THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE - up close, personal, and FREE!

With little fanfare, on December 1, 1995, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) announced free use of its award-winning GPO Access online service. All internet and dial-in users can now receive electronically, at no charge, the Congressional Record, Federal Register, congressional bills, and a growing list of important government documents on the same day of publication. Yes, that's right, the same day of publication.

If you've ever wished you could review the contents of today's Federal Register with that first cup of coffee, set your coffee maker for 6:00 am Eastern time, pour when ready, and log on! Everything your government needs you to know today will be there for the taking, along with every item that's appeared in the Federal Register since January 1, 1994. You can read the Contents page to see who did what to whom and then look at any individual actions by your regulator, HUD, Treasury, OFAC, VA and any other agency that helps chart your day. Items of interest can be downloaded as text files (not pretty, but very efficient) or looking just like the real thing via the "Adobe Acrobat" format. Free Acrobat readers can be downloaded from Adobe Development Systems' site at:
http://www.adobe.com

Saving the annual subscription price of $550 for the paper version of the Federal Register, this service is the kind of deal that will put a smile on your boss's face while she signs the expense voucher for your Internet access account for 1996!

Richard Insley is the head of Signet Bank's compliance program and an expert in technical matters.

Copyright © 1996 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 1, No. 6, 4/96