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Administrative agencies – including the NCUA and CFPB – have released their spring regulatory agendas, which include several NAFCU and credit union advocacy priorities, as well as already introduced or included items on previous rulemaking agendas.

Here are a few notable items included on the agencies’ spring rulemaking agendas:

NCUA

• Digital Assets and Related Technologies: Scheduled for December 2022, the NCUA will propose a final rule on decentralized finance and digital assets as they relate to the credit union industry. The agency will consider both the comments on the Request for Information and the recent executive order in evaluating what if any proposals should be forthcoming. NAFCU’s Digital Assets Working Group meets regularly to discuss digital assets updates.
• Fintech: A fintech proposed rule that Board Member Hood has been championing to provide more flexibility for a credit union to take advantage of advanced technologies and opportunities offered by the fintech sector, has been scheduled for September 2022. NAFCU has urged regulators to ensure a level-playing field between credit unions and fintechs.
• ACCESS Initiative: Scheduled for September 2022, the NCUA Board is considering the issuance of a proposed rule to amend its chartering and field of membership regulations that would remove outdated requirements, simplify the charter approval process, and clarify regulatory language. NAFCU has been a strong proponent of such amendments.
• Cybersecurity: The NCUA is reviewing the federal banking agencies' November 2021 rulemaking titled, ‘Computer-Security Incident Notification Requirements for Banking Organizations and Their Bank Service Providers,’ and may issue similar requirements for the credit union system this summer.

CFPB

• Section 1033: The CFPB will hold a Section 1033 Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel November 2022.
• PACE Loans: The CFPB is set to publish a proposed rule to include an ability to repay requirement under Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, in May 2023.
• Section 1071: The Bureau also has a final rule scheduled for March 2023 regarding its proposed section 1071 data collection rule, a costly and burdensome rule which would require credit unions and credit union service organizations that originated at least 25 covered small business credit transactions in each of the two preceding calendar years to collect and report small business credit application data, including data related to the ethnicity, race, and sex of small business applicants' principal owners.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA):

• Automated Valuation Models (AVMs): As directed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the FHFA, along with other banking regulators including the NCUA and CFPB,  plans to establish a proposed rule in December 2022 to adopt a regulation that would implement quality control standards applicable to AVMs.

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN):

• Convertible virtual currencies or digital assets: FinCEN will finalize a rule scheduled for March 2023 that implements the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to require banks and money service businesses (MSBs) to submit reports, keep records, and verify the identity of customers in relation to transactions involving convertible virtual currency (CVC) or digital assets.
• Corporate Transparency Act: The agency plans to analyze comments in June 2022 for a proposed rule on the Corporate Transparency Act.