New Year's Resolutions We Wish They Would Make

As we begin a new year, it is tempting to provide New Year's resolutions that we think others - such as Congress - should make to improve the compliance world in which we work. Here are some ideas to get everyone thinking.

Congress should resolve:

to never again allow the National Flood Insurance Program to lapse - without first removing all compliance requirements.
to move responsibility for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act from HUD to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
to revise RESPA to provide that if the creditor can demonstrate that an otherwise illegal business arrangement actually benefits the borrower, it is exempt from RESPA's Section 8 sanctions.
to learn how something is done and why before enacting laws to change it.
to identify a matching regulatory burden that can be lifted whenever imposing a new requirement on financial institutions.

The Federal Reserve Board should resolve:

to graciously accept responsibility for RESPA.
to take final action on regulatory proposals that have been out for more than 9 months, including proposals involving FCRA and Regulation B.
to issue a commentary on Regulation D.
to spend a week in the shoes of a banker.

Consumers and those who serve as their advocates should resolve:

to read their disclosures and contracts.
to take at least some responsibility for their actions.

FFIEC should resolve:

to keep its excellent geocoding tool up to date.
to train examiners to all follow the same procedures and standards for CRA and fair lending examinations.

FINCEN should resolve:

to give financial institutions more time to identify and respond to customer information requests.
to issue a commentary for BSA.
to publish final and realistic regulations on customer identification.

INS should resolve:

to give careful scrutiny to people as they come in to the country so that we will not need to put them into a line-up of sorts later.
to check the OFAC list before issuing visas.