On June 27, 2022, the Office of Management and Budget published the Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The Agenda breaks down rules from over 60 federal departments, agencies, and commissions.
In the list of actions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an announcement that the final rule for Small Business Lending Data Collection Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act is not expected until March 2023. The rule will implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to require, subject to rules prescribed by the CFPB, financial institutions to report information concerning credit applications made by women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses.
The industry expected the final rule to be issued by June 30, 2022, which would have resulted in an effective of January 1, 2024. With the delay, the rule will either become effective in the fourth quarter of 2024, or on January 1, 2025.
There is speculation that the implementation of Section 1071 will be coordinated with revised Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules, and possibly even revisions to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rules. Section 1071 by itself is a big deal. Combining it with CRA is a nightmare. Throwing in HMDA revisions is cataclysmic.