July 30, 2007 - The OCC has issued a Bulletin regarding the Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 159 (FAS 159) and compliance with the Market Risk Capital Rule. http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/bulletin/2007-27.html
July 27, 2007 - The FRB has released two legal interpretations regarding an exemption from section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) and Regulation W for certain covered transactions between a bank and its affiliates in connection with the bank's securities borrowing transactions and the approval of an acquisition by a bank of equity securities under section 9 of the FRA solely for the purpose of hedging the bank's exposure from equity derivative transactions with third parties. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/legalint/
FederalReserveAct/2007/20070612/20070612.pdf and http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/legalint/
FederalReserveAct/2007/20070504/20070504.pdf
July 27, 2007 - The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has announced the availability of data on small business, small farm, and community development lending reported by certain commercial banks and savings institutions, pursuant to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). http://www.ffiec.gov/hmcrpr/cra072607.htm
July 27, 2007 - FRB Financial Services has released information regarding the distribution dates of the Thomas Jefferson Presidential $1 Coin. http://www.frbservices.org/Cash/commemcoin.html
July 26, 2007 - A SR Letter has been issued by the FRB that reminds banking organizations that reporting an amount of gross trading assets and liabilities that equals 10 percent or more of total assets, or $1 billion or more, may subject a banking organization to the market risk capital rule. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/srletters/2007/SR0711.htm
July 26, 2007 - FRB Financial Services has posted online a Check 21 Business Value Calculator that allows financial institutions to determine the business case for Check 21-enabled products. https://www.destinationcheck21.com/bvc/Registration.jsp
July 24, 2007 - A legal opinion has been released by the FRB regarding the granting of an exemption to the regulator's Risk-Based Capital Adequacy Guidelines concerning the regulatory capital treatment of the Regulation T margin loans. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/legalint/
BHC_ChangeInControl/2007/20070615.pdf
July 20, 2007 - A statement has been issued by the federal financial regulatory agencies regarding the their policies for enforcing specific anti-money laundering (AML) requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20070719a.htm
July 20, 2007 - The FRB has issued an assessment of compliance of the Fedwire Securities Service and recommendations for securities settlement systems. http://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/
fedwiresecsvs/fedwiresecsvs.pdf
July 20, 2007 - The FRB has presented to Congress the agency's Annual Report to the Congress on the Presidential $1 Coin Program. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/RptCongress/dollarcoin/dollarcoin.pdf
July 19, 2007 - The President has issued a new Executive Order that blocks the property and interests in property of persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to have committed or to pose a significant risk of committing an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of (1) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq, or (2) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people. No names of individuals or entities were listed at this time and the OFAC list remains unchanged. http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/legal/eo/iraqeo_071807.pdf
July 19, 2007 - The FDIC has issued a FIL regarding market risk capital rules. http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2007/fil07064.html
July 18, 2007 - FinCEN has updated the 314(a) Fact Sheet and the Law Enforcement Information Sharing Report with the Financial Industry Report with data current as of July 17, 2007. http://www.fincen.gov/314afactsheet.pdf and http://www.fincen.gov/leinfosharing.pdf
July 18, 2007 - Three federal agencies, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators have announced that beginning in the fourth quarter 2007 they will launch an innovative pilot project to conduct targeted consumer-protection compliance reviews of selected non-depository lenders with significant subprime mortgage operations. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20070717a.htm
July 17, 2007 - The Federal Reserve has posted the new reference rates that lenders must use to determine if loans for which applications are received in August 2007 will be subject to HOEPA under the APR trigger test. Use the FRB H.15 to find applicable release which lists the Treasury Security with the same maturity term as your loan. To make the calculation, you use the yield in effect on the 15th of the month that precedes the month you received the application. Since July 15 was a Sunday, use the rate on July 13, the business day immediately preceding the 15th. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/Current/
July 17, 2007 - The OCC has launched a new Web site named "Help With My Bank" dedicated to providing answers and assistance to national bank customers. http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/
July 17, 2007 - The FDIC and the NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions have entered into a partnership to promote foreclosure-prevention strategies for consumers at risk of foreclosure from subprime and nontraditional mortgage lending. http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2007/pr07059.html
July 16, 2007 - The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has developed a Guidance on the Risk-Based Approach to combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The Guidance supports the development of a common understanding of what the risk-based approach involves, outlines the high-level principles involved in applying the risk-based approach, and indicates good public and private sector practice in the design and implementation of an effective risk-based approach. http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/43/46/38960576.pdf
July 13, 2007 - A new Regulatory Efficiency and Effectiveness Initiative Web page has been launched by FinCEN. http://www.fincen.gov/bsa_effectiveness.html
July 12, 2007 - The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies have requested public comment on a series of proposed new and revised interagency questions and answers (Q&A) pertaining to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-3223.pdf
July 12, 2007 - The FFIEC has added the 2007 Census Data to its Geocoding System. http://www.ffiec.gov/geocode/default.aspx and http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/censusproducts.htm#censusdata
July 12, 2007 - Federal Reserve Financial Services has published the July 2007 issue of FedFocus. http://www.frbservices.org/FedFocus/2007/fedfocus0707.pdf
July 11, 2007 - FRB Financial Services has announced new FedReceipt routing numbers that are effective the business day of July 16, 2007. http://www.frbservices.org/Retail/pdf/C21AvailabilityChanges071607.pdf
July 10, 2007 - The OCC has released and posted online two publications, "2006 Significant Legal, Licensing, and Community Development Precedents for National Banks" and "Activities Permissible for a National Bank, Cumulative: 2006," that provide the latest OCC interpretations and decisions authorizing activities for national banks and their operating subsidiaries. http://www.occ.treas.gov/sigpre.pdf and http://www.occ.treas.gov/corpapps/bankact.pdf
July 9, 2007 - FinCEN has updated the MSB Registration List with data current as of June 6, 2007. http://www.msb.gov/pdf/msb_registration_list.pdf
July 9, 2007 - Treasury has released its July 7, 2007 Economic Update. http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/update7607.pdf
July 9, 2007 - Treasury has announced that awards totaling $3,632,292 to 19 organizations serving Native American or Alaskan Native communities in 12 states have been made through the agency's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Native American Assistance Program. http://www.cdfifund.gov/docs/2007_NACA_Awards.pdf and http://www.cdfifund.gov/
July 5, 2007 - The FRB has updated its Consumer Compliance Handbook with the addition of a new handbook chapter, VI. Community Reinvestment Act, regarding the recently issued guidance on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examinations. http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/SupManual/supervision_cch.htm
July 5, 2007 - FinCEN has updated the 314(a) Fact Sheet and the Law Enforcement Information Sharing with the Financial Industry Report with information current as of July 3, 2007. http://www.fincen.gov/314afactsheet.pdf and http://www.fincen.gov/leinfosharing.pdf
July 3, 2007 - The OCC will hold a credit risk workshop on July 31, 2007 in St. Louis geared primarily for outside directors of national community banks with assets of less than $1 billion. http://www.occ.treas.gov/2007%20Credit%20Risk%20Brochure.pdf
July 2, 2007 - The federal financial regulatory agencies have issued a final statement on subprime mortgage lending to address issues relating to certain adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) products that can cause payment shock. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20070629a.htm
July 2, 2007 - The OCC has announced June 2007 New Electronic Interpretations and Actions. http://www.occ.treas.gov/interp/jun07/intjun07.htm
July 2, 2007 - The FRB has issued a summary of the March, 2007, roundtable discussion on retail payments fraud. http://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/retailpmtfraud/default.htm
July 2, 2007 - The OCC's Quarterly Report on Bank Derivatives Activities for the First Quarter 2007 indicates that insured U.S. commercial banks posted a record $7 billion in trading revenues during the first quarter of 2007, 24 percent higher than the first quarter of 2006, and 82 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2006. http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2007-65a.pdf
July 1, 2007 - FRB Financial Services has published the July 1, 2007 issue of FedFlash. http://www.frbservices.org/FedFlash/2007/070107/FedFlash070107.pdf
