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August 2016 - A More Perfect Union

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ยป VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 81 OCC Appoints Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Supervision e Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) appointed Beverly F. Cole as the Deputy Comptroller for the Compliance Supervision, where she will report to the Senior Deputy Comptroller for Compliance and Community Affairs. In this role, Cole will serve as the operational executive responsible for developing and promulgating compliance operational protocols, examination strategies, and schedules. She will also oversee a staff implementing bank supervision policy for compliance and establish programs to ensure efficient bank supervision for compliance. Cole will take on these duties starting July 2016 as announced by the OCC. A native of Mississippi, Cole received her bachelor of arts degree in economics with an emphasis in business administration from Tougaloo College before beginning her career with the OCC in 1979 as an Assistant National Bank Examiner in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1989 she was commissioned a National Bank Examiner. During her career, Cole served in a variety of supervision roles including Credit Specialist in the former Southeastern District, Credit Team Leads, and Assistant Deputy Comptroller for Specialties and Operations in the Northeastern District Office. Prior to this position, Cole served as the Senior Advisor to the Senior Deputy Comptroller for Midsize and Community Bank Supervision. In this role, she provided advice on the implementation of policies and procedures relevant to the effective and efficient supervision of national banks and federal savings associations. In addition to her current position, Cole is also the Designated Federal Official for the OCC's Minority Depository Institutions Advisory Committee. According to Comptroller of the Currency omas J. Curry, "Beverly has dedicated her career to bank supervision. She is committed to ensuring national banks and federal savings associations comply with applicable laws and regulation and she understands that compliance goes hand-in- hand with safety and soundness as well as banks' ability to provide equal access and fair treatment to their customers." CFPB: Compliance Management Deficiencies Linger e Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released its report on supervisory actions in the first four months of the year and found that while mortgage lenders generally are in compliance with federal consumer financial laws, many entities continue to have deficiencies in their compliance management systems. Violations were relatively small, but significant enough for the CFPB to require corrective action. According to the report, some institutions incorrectly calculated the amount financed on loans with discount credits, and subsequently incorrectly calcu- lated the finance charge on the same loans. Others violated RESPA Section 8 rules prohibiting referrals in exchange for money or business. e CFPB also found some instances in which lenders did not inform clients proper notice of credit denials on applications, and occasional failure to properly disclose interest on interest-only loans. e bureau also found that at some institutions, a weak compliance management system allowed violations of Regulations V, X, and Z to occur. "For example, one or more supervised institutions had weak oversight of auto- mated systems, including inadequate testing of codes that calculate the finance charge and the amount financed when originating residential loans to consumers," the report stated. "In addition, one or more supervised entities failed to monitor for changes that would require updated disclosures to comply with applicable Federal consumer financial laws." e report also noted that its examiners uncovered illegal activities in auto finance and payments that led to approximately $24.5 million in restitution to more than 257,000 consumers. "is report highlights our ongoing work to address violations of the law and slipshod practices that endanger consumers," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "e Bureau's supervisors continue to perform more and better oversight of these financial markets, and their report gives the industry an opportunity to reflect on their practices before consumers are made to suffer harm." Fannie Mae Eliminates Restructured Loan Policy Fannie Mae has announced it is eliminat- ing its restructured loan policy, which was originally introduced in September 2008 in response to the uncertainty of how restruc- tured loans would perform after the financial crisis, according to Fannie Mae's most recent Selling Guide update. e elimination of the restructured loan policy allows lenders to rely on existing policy when determining whether or not a restruc- tured loan is eligible for delivery under a refinance transaction or a modified mortgage loan, according to Fannie Mae. "Eliminating this policy provides greater access to mortgage credit by enabling bor- rowers to refinance with more favorable rates and terms and streamline lender processes by removing requirements that required manual steps," Fannie Mae stated in the update. e policy was introduced the same month that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken in to conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) amid uncertainty of the performance of restructured loans. e policy was updated to allow a restructured mortgage to subsequently be refinanced after the government established programs such as the Hardest Hit Fund to provide principal forgiveness relief to underwater borrowers. "In an effort to simply our eligibility guidelines and support the housing market, we are eliminating our policy on restructured mortgages," Fannie Mae stated in the update. Fannie Mae also announced its first change to its HomeReady product, incorpo- rating features enabling lenders to expand credit access in a "safe and responsible manner." Fannie Mae stated that a number of product enhancements are planned this year as a result of continued assessments of HomeReady. e first change to HomeReady involves simplifying the way income limits are applied by establishing a single area median income limit of 100 percent (the previous limit was 80 percent or 100 percent, depending on where the property was located). e change will be implemented in Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter the week of July 16, 2016; for manually underwritten loans, the policy is effective for loans with application dates on or after July 16, 2016.

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