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On January 15, 2017 we penned an article entitled Worth Watching – BOA Discrimination Case. The article reviewed what appeared to be fairly egregious ethnicity discrimination practices engaged in by a few Bank of America employees in the Charleston, SC market. The article concluded with the following questions: Will BOA settle? If the case makes it to court how will the court rule when the victims are testers and will any significant damages be awarded?

On May 23, 2017 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued OCC Bulletin 2017-18 to update its policies and procedures regarding violations of laws and regulations. The updated guidance: Communicate violations using a consistent format: Legal citation and description Summary of relevant statutory or regulatory requirements Facts supporting the violation and root cause(s) Corrective action(s) required Board and management’s commitment(s) to corrective action Reinforce the importance of timely and thorough follow-up and

Since December 2010, financial institutions have had to maintain strict requirements to ensure a safe and sound program for performing appraisals and evaluations for real-estate related transactions, as required by the Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines.  Limited exceptions for appraisals were required under the Guidelines, requiring banks to request more appraisals than ever before and maintain stringent requirements in the ordering of those appraisals.  Since 2010, appraisals for real-estate related transactions have dramatically increased while

Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Control Act in 1978. The insider lending provisions of the law were implemented as Regulation O. Historical data show that insider abuse is at the heart of many bank failures. Examiners take very seriously their mission to prevent insider abuse. They frequently cite violations of Regulation O during examinations, and often take enforcement action. Enforcement actions may take the form of civil monetary penalties , a Memorandum of

The Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) requires the CFPB to review certain rules within five years after they take effect. The required reviews are called assessments. The CFPB is conducting an assessment of the ATR/QM rule, and will issue a report of the assessment by January 2019. As required by law, the assessment will address the rule’s effectiveness in meeting the purposes and objectives of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act and the specific goals of the