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The CFPB yesterday announced that, on Friday, President Trump designated Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bloomberg Law reported, citing a memo to CFPB staff obtained by Bloomberg, that Bessent has ordered CFPB staff ordered the CFPB to stop all rulemaking, communications, litigation, and other activities.

In a recent CFPB Blog article, Zixta Q. Martinez, Deputy Director of the CFPB and Chair (since April 2022) of the FFIEC's Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC), provided an informal update on the ASC's progress toward its goals of ensuring appraisals are performed accurately and without bias and promoting a qualified, diverse, and plentiful resource of appraisers across the U.S.

The ASC has issued a proposed rule (89 FR 96912, comments due by February 4, 2025) that would formally implement ASC enforcement authority with respect to state appraiser certifying and licensing agencies, including authority to impose sanctions in ineffective appraiser regulatory programs. The ASC has also resumed on-site compliance reviews of state appraiser and AMC regulatory programs, and has issued 58 final reports. Five of those reports rated the reviewed state programs as "Needs Improvement," and four were rated "Unsatisfactory."

With prodding by the ASC, The Appraisal Foundation's Board of Trustees voted to change its governance structure in December 2023. Paying sponsors can no longer directly appoint board members, and the board's composition goals now include consumer advocates, civil rights advocates, and fair housing advocates.

On June 22, 2023, the Foundation’s Appraiser Qualifications Board also updated the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria to make fair housing education a required component of an appraiser's qualifying and continuing education. The ASC provided comments on revisions. The updated Criteria will go into effect on January 1, 2026. The ASC staff are now attending closed sessions of the Foundation's three Boards to carry out the ASC’s monitor and review mandate.

The FDIC regularly releases a monthly list of its enforcement orders and decisions near the end of the month following the issuance of the orders. On Friday, the FDIC issued its January 2025 list of orders and decisions issued in December 2024. Among those enforcement actions were—

• An order for assessment of a $650,000 civil money penalty against WEX Bank, Sandy, Utah, after a finding that the bank engaged in deceptive acts and unfair practices in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act
• An order to pay a $47,000 civil money penalty against State Bank of DeKalb, DeKalb, Texas, after a finding that the bank violated HMDA and Regulation C, by failing to report accurate data about its HMDA-applicable denied, withdrawn, and incomplete applications for 2021 and 2022.
• An order modifying a 2023 order of prohibition and order to pay a civil money penalty against Diana Yates, formerly affiliated with The Bank of Oswego, Lake Oswego, Oregon. The order of prohibition was reissued; the civil money penalty was canceled.
• A consent order against Bank of Vici, Vici, Oklahoma
• An order for assessment of a $105,000 civil money penalty and removal/prohibition against Frank William Bonan II, former chairman of the board of Grand Rivers Community Bank, Grand Chain, Illinois
• An Notice of Charges and of Hearing for an order of restitution of $352,450 and prohibition directed to Danielle Solomon, affiliated with Truist Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Removal/Prohibition orders against—
  • Nigar Scott, Truist Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Vicki L. Grisham, The First State Bank, Abernathy, Texas
  • Kelly M. Huffman, First Security Bank - West, Beulah, North Dakota (with order to pay civil money penalty of $15,000)
  • Oscar Gonzales Bono (with three aliases), NVE Bank, Englewood, New Jersey
  • Sharna L. Carter, First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Rodolpho R. Pagesy Roussel, Oriental Bank, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Barbara Lejeune Chaisson, JD Bank, Jennings, Louisiana
• Voluntary Termination of Deposit Insurance orders for Washington Business Bank, Olympia, Washington; TSB Bank, Lomira, Wisconsin; First National Bank Northwest Florida, Panama City, Florida; and Northside Community Bank, Burnee, Illinois

The FDIC, OCC, and Federal Reserve Board have issued a joint press release announcing a virtual public outreach meeting on March 6, 2025, as part of their review of regulations, as required by law. The Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA) requires the agencies, with input from the public, to review their regulations at least once every 10 years to identify any outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements applicable to their supervised institutions.

The outreach meeting is an opportunity for interested stakeholders to present their views on the six categories of regulations listed in the first two Federal Register notices: Applications and Reporting; Powers and Activities; International Operations; Consumer Protection; Directors, Officers and Employees; and Money Laundering.

The NCUA on Friday reported it issued one prohibition notice in January 2025. Shana M. Ware, formerly employed by Genisys Credit Union, Auburn Hills, Michigan, was notified that, because she had been convicted in October 2024 of one count of Embezzlement from a Financial Institution, one count of Forgery, and one count of Embezzlement by an Agent or Trustee of $20,000 to $50,000 related to her misconduct at the credit union, she is prohibited by law from becoming an institution-affiliated party of any insured depository institution.