2017 Exam Focus

The NCUA released Letter No. 17-CU-01, which describes their supervisory priorities for 2017. The primary areas of focus are: Cybersecurity Assessment. Credit unions are encouraged to use the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool, and examiners will continue to evaluate the credit unions’ cybersecurity risk management practices. Bank Secrecy Act Compliance. As always, BSA is a hot topic. Additional focus will be on … Read More

Repeal of Regulatory Relief for Small Credit Unions CR-102 Filed

The DCU is repealing its Regulatory Relief for Small Credit Unions rule (Chapter 208-424-WAC) because the rule no longer complies with the Washington Credit Union Act and is out of date.  For credit unions up to ten million dollars in total assets, the rule provides timing relief for special membership and regular board meetings. Passwords to access the blog posts, … Read More

Fall 2016 CFPB Supervisory Highlights

The CFPB released the Fall 2016 issue of its Supervisory Highlights.  Included are – Repossession fees and refusal to return property Supervision found that companies were holding borrowers’ personal belongings and refusing to return the property to borrowers until after the borrower paid a fee for storing the property. If borrowers did not pay the fee before the company was … Read More

NCUA Renames Office of Consumer Protection

The National Credit Union Administration published at 81 FR 76495 a notice renaming its Office of Consumer Protection (OCP). The new name, effective today, is the Office of Consumer Financial Protection and Access (OCFPA). Passwords to access the blog posts, and blog posts are only for NWCG owners and retained clients. These should not be shared outside of the credit union. Blog … Read More

The FDIC’s Story on Data Breach Response

The FDIC has been plagued with a number of data breaches recently, and a congressional report details the story and facts, along with FDIC’s cooperation (or lack of), relating to two breaches caused by separating employees removing confidential information.  The report is an interesting read, and provides a lot of how-not-to report and respond. The report details one story and … Read More

CFPB Supervisory Highlights

The CFPB released its 10th Supervisory Highlights, which focuses on consumer reporting, mortgage origination, fair lending, debt collection, remittances and student loan servicing. The credit union’s compliance and auditing staff should review the report to make sure that the credit union does not end up as a “highlight.” A couple of the highlights include: Consumer Reporting The Bureau found that … Read More

CFPB Spring 2016 Rulemaking Agenda

The CFPB’s Spring 2016 Agenda has been published, and it looks like we may have a busy summer.  Compliance folks may want to get some sleep this weekend, because it may be your last chance.  Of the rules on the list, the following may have impact on credit unions. In the Prerule Stage: Business Lending Data (Regulation B) Section 1071 … Read More

Interesting Reads

February’s Scientific American had an article titled Why Don’t People Manage Debt Better. This is a must read for Marketing folks. Mind you, this is not a compliance article but a discussion on how people do not effectively manage debt. The article provides a summary of experiments the researchers ran on the interpretation of advertisements and which ads would invoke … Read More

Whistleblower Protection

The Department of Labor Issued its Final Rule Regarding Procedures for Handling Employee Retaliation Complaints under the Employee Protection Provision of the Consumer Financial Protection Act A covered person (offers or provides consumer financial products or services) cannot retaliate against an employee for: (1) reporting to a governmental authority or law agency information that the employee believes is a violation … Read More