Before You Owe Mortgage) rules, to
name just a few. The mortgage industry is still adjusting to TRID, and the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(Bureau) has promised clarifications to
assist compliance efforts.
This year, mortgage lenders are busy
implementing the upcoming changes to
HMDA, another monumental labor- and
technology-intensive effort. It’s worth
noting that there have been no rumblings
that these new rules might be scrapped.
There is much attention now on
cybersecurity and regulatory change
management efforts, as well as cultural
aspects of consumer banking, such as
sales practices and other UDAP/UDAAP
hot spots. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) has announced
reviews of the QM and remittance transfer rules, so there may be changes and/or
additions to these in the years to come.
There is still plenty going on.
Will there be some rules that go away?
Very likely, although we don’t know
which ones yet. Initial impressions are
that rules targeted for rollback include
liquidity and stress test rules rather than
consumer protection regulations. There
is also a push toward easing rules for
smaller banks, but again, first impressions
are that these will be capital rules, not traditional compliance regulations.
Certainly much depends on what
happens at the Bureau. This promises to
continue throughout 2017 or longer, but
from a practical perspective what might
go away? Most likely rules that have not
been finalized yet, such as the payday
lending and arbitration rules, are at high
risk. The prepaid rule looks like it will
be delayed. The previously-issued Ad-
vance Notice or Proposed Rulemaking
on a new debt collection rule may never
come to fruition.
It will be interesting to see what hap-
pens to regulations required by Dodd-
Frank but not yet published in any form,
such as the commercial data collection
rule. It may be quite a while before any
action is taken on that. We’ll have to see.
Much was made of the President’s
Executive Order mandating that two
regulations be removed for every one
added. However, the Bureau and pru-
dential regulators are exempt (at least for
now) from this “ 2 out for 1 in” mandate,
as they are independent agencies.
■ ■ ■ AML isn’t going anywhere.
The past few years have seen a big
increase in Bank Secrecy, OFAC, and
other financial crimes attention and
enforcement. This isn’t expected to
change; in fact, it may even increase
further. The relaxation of restrictions
against Cuba may be reversed, and
ongoing difficulties with Russia, North
Korea, and elsewhere promise to keep
BSA and OFAC Officers and staff busy.
■ ■ ■ The concept of consumer protection
also isn’t going anywhere.
New administrations are always
unpredictable, and this one certainly
fits that bill. For all the publicity around
easing the regulatory climate to promote
business, many feel the new President
is still very much a populist at heart.
It would be politically difficult to do
away with a large chunk of rules and
regulations seen as protecting ordinary
Americans.
It’s a virtual certainty that the structure,
and perhaps the leadership, of the Bureau
will change at some point. But that type
of change will not reduce the day-to-day need for banks to do right by their
customers, meaning comply with the laws
and regulations already on the books.
Over the long haul there will always
be changes in the regulatory and
enforcement environment. It’s like a
pendulum swinging back and forth
between extremes. The key is not to
overreact to what people “think” will
happen, but to stay steady in doing what
is right for your bank. ■
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CARL G. PRY, CRCM, CRP, is
managing director for Treliant
Risk Advisors in Washington,
D.C., where he advises clients
on a wide variety of
compliance, fair lending, corporate treasury,
and risk management issues. Over the last
18 years, Pry has held senior leadership
positions including senior vice president and
compliance manager for Compliance and
Control Department at Key Bank in
Cleveland, Ohio; vice president of regulatory
services at Kirchman Corp. in Orlando, Fla.;
and manager in the Finance and
Performance Management Service Line at
Accenture in Chicago, Ill. He also serves on
the ABA Bank Compliance magazine Editorial
Advisory Board. Reach him via email at
cpry@treliant.com or by telephone at (440)
320-4662. S H U T
TE
R
STO
CK
It’s like a pendulum
swinging back and forth
between extremes.
The key is not to
overreact to what
people “think” will
happen, but to stay
steady in doing what
is right for your bank.
