The Board issued on July 29, 2016, a list of entities for which the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has imposed special measures under section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (31 U.S.C. 5318A). More... Special measures create legal obligations for covered financial institutions with respect to certain jurisdictions, financial institutions, or international transactions of primary money laundering concern to the United States. This list will be updated periodically whenever FinCEN imposes a new special measure, or removes or changes an existing special measure (Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at 3-1875).

The Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the “agencies”) adopted as final revisions to the Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Community Reinvestment based on the proposal issued on September 10, 2014, addressing alternative systems for delivering retail banking services; community development-related issues; and the qualitative aspects of performance, including innovative or flexible lending practices and the responsiveness and innovativeness of an institution’s loans, qualified investments, and community development services. More... The agencies are clarifying nine of the ten proposed questions and answers (Q&A), revising four existing Q&As for consistency, and adopting two new Q&As. The agencies are not adopting one of the proposed revisions to guidance that addressed the availability and effectiveness of retail banking services. Finally, the agencies are making technical corrections to the Q&As to update cross-references and remove references related to the Office of Thrift Supervision as obsolete. The agencies are publishing all of the new and revised Q&As, as well as those Q&As that were published in 2010 and 2013 and that remain in effect in this final guidance. The final new and revised Interagency Questions and Answers became effective July 25, 2016 (Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Community Reinvestment at 6-1265, Docket OP-1497), the same day they were published in the Federal Register.

The Board issued an interim final rule amending its rules of practice and procedure to adjust the amount of each civil monetary penalty provided by law within its jurisdiction to account for inflation as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The interim final rule became effective August 1, 2016 (Rules of Practice for Hearings at 8-043, Docket R-1543) and was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2016.

Included in this transmittal are revised finding tables and citation indexes reflecting all changes since the last revision that was issued in September 2015 (transmittal 415).

The Board, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and OCC published proposed rules amending the official interpretations for their regulations that implement section 129H of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). Section 129H of TILA establishes special appraisal requirements for “higher-risk mortgages,” termed “higher-priced mortgage loans” or “HPMLs” in the agencies’ regulations. More... The Board, CFPB, FDIC, Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Credit Union Administration, and OCC issued joint final rules implementing these requirements, effective January 18, 2014. The agencies’ rules exempted, among other loan types, transactions of $25,000 or less, and required that this loan amount be adjusted annually based on any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Board, CFPB, and OCC will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. The proposal would memorialize this as well as the agencies’ calculation method for determining the adjustment in years following a year in which there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by September 6, 2016 (Docket R-1443).

The Board and CFPB are proposing to amend the official interpretations and commentary for the agencies’ regulations that implement the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA). More... The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended the CLA by requiring that the dollar threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions be adjusted annually by the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Board and CFPB will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. The proposal would memorialize this as well as the agencies’ calculation method for determining the adjustment in years following a year in which there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by September 6, 2016 (Docket R-1545).

The Board and CFPB are proposing to amend the official interpretations and commentary for the agencies’ regulations that implement TILA. More... The Dodd-Frank Act amended TILA by requiring that the dollar threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions be adjusted annually by the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Board and CFPB will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. The proposal would memorialize this as well as the agencies’ calculation method for determining the adjustment in years following a year in which there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by September 6, 2016 (Docket R-1546).