National Talk Like Yoda Day, Today is
(yes, apparently it is a thing)

Here are highlights of the past week's activities.

From the CFPB:
Extended Comment Period for Request for Information on Artificial Intelligence - The five federal financial regulatory agencies (CFPB, FDIC, Fed Res, NCUA, and OCC) have extended the comment period on the RFI until July 1, 2021. The agencies are seeking information from the public on how financial institutions use AI in their activities, including fraud prevention, personalization of customer services, credit underwriting, and other operations. More specifically, the RFI seeks comments to better understand the use of AI, including machine learning, by financial institutions; appropriate governance, risk management, and controls over AI; and challenges in developing, adopting, and managing AI. (Published May 17, 2021)

From the FDIC:
Request for Information and Comment on Digital Assets - The FDIC is gathering information and soliciting comments regarding insured depository institutions' current and potential digital assets related activity. (Published May 17, 2021)

From the FRB:
Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2020 - The Report found a larger share of adults were worse off economically in 2020 than in previous years of the survey. This change occurred broadly across the population, but not all groups fared the same. (Published May 17, 2021)

From the FTC:
Cryptocurrency Investment Scams - Since October 2020, almost 7,000 people have reported losing money from cryptocurrency investment scams, 12 times the number of reports from the same period last year. More than $80 million has been lost from these scams during that period, with a median loss of $1,900. (Published May 17, 2021)

From the NCUA:
Letters to Credit Unions 21-CU-03 - The NCUA released the Letter to Credit Unions (21-CU-03) encouraging all federal credit unions to transition away from using the U.S. dollar LIBOR settings as soon as possible, but no later than December 31, 2021. The Letter to Credit Unions includes Supervisory Letter 21-01, Evaluating LIBOR Transition Plans, which provides guidance to examiners on the discontinuance of the LIBOR. Examiners will use this as a basis to assess a credit union's preparations in transitioning away from LIBOR to an alternative reference rate or rates. (Published May 17, 2021)

Testimony - On May 19, Chairman Harper testified before the Financial Services Committee. His remarks included his regulatory philosophy, COVID-19 response, and Supervisory Priorities for 2021, among others. Supervisory priorities include reviews of credit union's efforts to: maintain sufficient loss reserves, BSA compliance, CARES Act compliance, consumer protection laws and regulation compliance, credit risk, cybersecurity, LIBOR transition, and liquidity risk.

From the OCC:
Semiannual Risk Perspective, Spring 2021 - The key takeaway from the report is that banks maintained sound capital and liquidity levels in 2020. Bank profitability remains stressed due to low interest rates and low loan demand. Increasing business and consumer confidence, vaccinations, and higher employment levels are improving economic prospects for 2021 and 2022. (Published May 18, 2021)

Testimony - Comptroller Hsu testified before the Financial Resources Committee on May 19. He identified four urgent problems that require immediate attention: guarding against complacency, reducing inequality, adapting to digitalization, and acting against climate change.

From the Treasury:
The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda - The plan, aiming at shrinking the tax gap, includes new requirements for financial institutions to report information on account inflows and outflows for both business and personal accounts -
"The new reporting regime would build from the framework of the Form 1099-INT reports that taxpayers already receive from financial institutions when they earn more than $10 in interest from a bank, brokerage, or other financial institution. Financial institutions would simply report additional data on the financial accounts of these existing information returns. Specifically, the annual return would report gross inflows and outflows on all business and personal accounts from financial institutions, including bank, loan, and investment accounts but carve out exceptions for accounts below a low de minimis gross flow threshold." (Published May 20, 2021)

Miscellaneous:
Delivering Financial Products and Services to the Unbanked and Underbanked in the United States - Challenges and Opportunities - Financial trade associations published a white paper which outlines obstacles and solutions to promote financial inclusion and improve the financial wellbeing of U.S. households. (Published May 18, 2021)

(Yodish translator available here)
Was this forwarded to you?
Sign up here to receive our Weekly Rewinds and Regulatory Recaps in your mailbox.
Compliance Services Group, LLC is focused on meeting your financial services compliance needs at a value proposition. We can help you implement and maintain a high-quality compliance management program for less than it costs to maintain internal expertise. We also offer compliance audit services on an independent basis for board audit and supervisory committees or on behalf of the management team. We invite you to explore our service options by visiting our website to examine what we can do for the benefit of your institution.

Our team of auditing and consulting professionals, with decades of auditing, consulting, and financial institution experience, serves over 175 financial institutions throughout the nation.
Law-Related Services Disclosure. Please be advised that CSG provides financial services compliance audit and consulting services to our clients. The services that we provide include certain tasks that may be characterized as “law-related services” under Rule 5.7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers. Since some of our employees are lawyers with an active bar license but are NOT engaged in the private practice of law, that Rule requires us to make disclosures clarifying that the services we perform may be law-related services, but they are not legal services. Because they are not legal services, those services and our relationship will not be governed by the Rules of Professional Conduct that guide the client-lawyer relationship, such as rules applicable to privileged communications and prohibitions of conflicts of interest. Notwithstanding this disclaimer, we will continue to govern our relationship with you using reasonable ethical and professional standards that are expected to meet your expectations.
Advertising Disclosure. This is an advertisement for Compliance Services Group, LLC. You can opt out at any time from receiving updates by clicking "Unsubscribe" below.