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The FDIC his released a list of enforcement orders issued in August 2024.

• Comenity Bank, Wilmington, Delaware, and Comenity Capital Bank, Draper, Utah, each received an order to pay and agreed to pay a civil money penalty of $1 million after a finding, which the banks neither admit nor deny, that they engaged in unfair acts and practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act related to reward programs and the processing of automatic payments matters resulting from the conversion from an internal core system platform to an external core system platform.
• Removal and prohibition orders were issued to:
  • Sammy Sims, former CFO of Eastern International Bank, Los Angeles, California (use of bank funds to purchase life insurance for bank employees without their knowledge, for which his wife received compensations as insurance broker)
  • Debra L. Poulsen, former officer and director of Ericson State Bank, Ericson, Nebraska (failure to report to directors misconduct of which she was aware, including repeated violations of Nebraska's legal lending limit, unsafe and unsound overdrafts, etc.)
  • Jackie L. Poulsen, former president and director of Ericson State Bank, Ericson, Nebraska (underwriting loans without appropriate documentation or risk mitigation, making loans "vastly exceeding" Nebraska's lending limit, failing to obtain real estate appraisals, etc.)
  • Patricia Jean Niemeyer, former cashier and director of Ericson State Bank, Ericson, Nebraska (aiding and abetting the actions of Jackie Poulsen).
  • Robert S. Catanzaro, former CEO and director of Independence Bank, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, for failing to implement and supervise appropriate oversight and management practices over the bank's SBA Small Loan Advantage lending program, causing the bank to suffer over $1.7 million in losses.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reports it has published its 2024 second quarter data for the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Aggregate Statistics and introduced new condominium data as part of the UAD Aggregate Statistics. This is the first publicly available data drawn from condominium appraisal records and complements the existing data for single-family homes.

The current release includes data drawn from more than five million condominium appraisal records from 2013 through the second quarter of 2024. Condominium appraisal aggregate statistics may be grouped by property or neighborhood characteristics and geographic levels (national, state, and Metropolitan Statistical Area). FHFA plans to include condominium data in quarterly releases of the UAD Aggregate Statistics on an ongoing basis.

The OCC has expanded the reach of its earlier announcement allowing banks in the path of Hurricane Helene to close. Yesterday, the OCC issued a proclamation allowing national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to close offices in areas of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia affected by Hurricane Helene, if they are affected by potentially unsafe conditions as a result of the storm.

The Federal Reserve Board published in the September 25, 2024, Federal Register final rules amending Regulations A and D to reflect the 50 basis point reduction in interest rates announced last week.

• Regulation A: 89 FR 78221, effective September 25, 2024, and applicable from September 19, 2024.
• Regulation D: 89 FR 78222, effective September 25, 2024, and applicable from September 19, 2024.

The amendments will be posted to BankersOnline Regulations pages shortly.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced it has revised the Agency's proposal to amend the Suspended Counterparty Program (SCP). The SCP regulation requires a regulated entity to report to FHFA if an individual or institution that it does business with has committed certain types of misconduct within the prior three years. It also authorizes FHFA to order its regulated entities to cease doing business or refrain from entering into new business with certain counterparties. Final suspension orders are published on FHFA’s website.

FHFA is publishing this re-proposal after considering issues that commenters had raised about the original proposed rule, issued in July 2023. This includes distinguishing between misconduct that poses material risk to the safety and soundness of the regulated entities from behavior with de minimis impact.

Specifically, the re-proposal would:

• Authorize the suspension of business between a regulated entity and a counterparty whose misconduct resulted in a federal prohibition order or a civil money penalty above a specific threshold; and
• Authorize the suspension of business between a regulated entity and a counterparty that has committed criminal or civil misconduct related to the management or ownership of real property.

Comments on the re-proposed rule will be accepted for 60 days following its publication in the Federal Register.

Publication and comment period update: Published 10/1/2024 at 89 FR 79785 in the Federal Register, with a comment period of 62 days, ending 12/02/2024

The FDIC has issued FIL-66-2024 with steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 13 to July 16, 2024. Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago Counties are currently included as affected areas. That list may change. Check FEMA's website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4819/designated-areas for any updates.

The FDIC also issued FIL-67-2024 to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Connecticut — including Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven Counties — affected by a severe storm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides on August 18 and 19, 2024. Any updates to that list of counties will be posted to FEMA’s website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4820/designated-areas.

The CFPB has released its Office of Servicemembers Affairs’ annual report, which covers the top financial concerns facing servicemembers, veterans, and military families, based on the complaints they submitted to the CFPB. Servicemembers told the CFPB about issues they were having when trying to contact or get help from their federal student loan servicer. The report also highlights other areas of concern in student lending such as transcript withholding and fraud and scams.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released its first quarter 2024 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report. The report shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 52,154 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6,957,884 since the start of conservatorships in September 2008.

The report also shows that 29 percent of loan modifications completed in the first quarter reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances decreased from 71,378 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 69,878 in the first quarter of 2024.

The Enterprises’ serious delinquency rate declined from 0.55 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 to 0.51 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2024. This compares with 3.18 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 2.01 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 1.44 percent for all loans (industry average).

The data included in the quarterly reports are also available on the FHFA’s website as an interactive Borrower Assistance Map.

The CFPB has posted the 2025 version of its HMDA Filing Instruction Guide (FIG), a compendium of resources to help lenders file annual HMDA data collected in 2025 with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) in 2026.

The Bureau also released the Online Supplemental Guide for Quarterly Filers for 2025, which includes 2025 calendar year quarterly deadlines. This guide will help financial institutions that are required to file HMDA data on a quarterly basis.

The Online 2025 Filing Instructions Guide and the Supplemental Guide for Quarterly Filers for 2025 can also be accessed at https://ffiec.cfpb.gov under Guides for HMDA Filers.

FDIC FIL-65-2024, issued Friday, provides guidance to financial institutions and facilitates recovery in areas of Louisiana — currently listing Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary and Terrebonne Parishes — affected by Hurricane Francine from September 9–12, 2024.