Compliance Blog

Written by Steve Van Beek

FinCEN has extended the comment period for their Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR).  The comment period was scheduled to end on May 4th but FinCEN will accept comments for an additional 30 days.

NAFCU's comment letter has already been submitted and can be found here.  I particularly enjoyed this section which discusses FinCEN's weak cost-benefit analysis.   

"Further, NAFCU believes that this rulemaking is representative of exactly the type of regulation that President Obama sought to address in two executive orders, both issued in 2011, establishing a reasonable, but firm, standards that both executive and independent agencies should meet before issuing regulations.  Executive Orders 13563 and 13579 specifically direct executive and independent agencies to conduct careful analysis of the likely consequences of regulation, including the cost and benefits.  The ANPR places far too much weight on the benefits of having a standard regime across regulated institutions, and offers very little discussion, let alone much weight, to the cost that many institutions would bear.    

The Executive Orders also direct agencies to ensure regulations promote economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and job creation.  The ANPR would achieve none of these goals.  In fact, these goals would be undermined as the proposal would force credit unions to devote more financial and human capital to regulatory compliance rather than to lending and other products and services."

If you missed it earlier, be sure to check out this NAFCU Compliance Blog post which roundups up recent BSA changes and future changes.  

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IT Exam Handbook.  The FFIEC announced recent updates to their IT Examination Handbook.  They have also added a "What's New" page that will track changes in between formal updates.  This page also includes a Change Log that might be useful.

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Flood Insurance.  The latest temporary Band-Aids for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) are set to come off May 31st.  Congress needs to act soon to prevent a lapse in flood insurance coverage.  NAFCU has been pushing for a long-term extension as well as urging Congress to act prior to lapse.  For more, see this Joint Letter sent to the Senate yesterday.  

In June 2010, NCUA issued Letter to Credit Unions 10-CU-08 which addresses issues related to flood insurance lapses.  This Letter and the Enclosure might be good ones to keep handy as May rolls along.