With respect to fair lending scrutiny, redlining remains a critical concern for financial institutions. While data analysis is essential, a comprehensive understanding of redlining risk requires banks to look beyond the numbers. “Telling your bank’s story” involves proactively assessing policies, practices, and community context to ensure effective management of fair lending risk. Redlining, a form […]
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In today’s complex regulatory environment, financial institutions face increasing scrutiny and risk. This is especially true in areas like fair lending. To navigate this successfully, it is crucial to adopt a data-driven approach, combined with strong collaborative relationships. This post explores key strategies for mitigating risk based a collaborative approach. The Power of Understanding The […]
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Preparing for an upcoming fair lending examination can be stressful and time consuming. One of the main challenges is knowing what to focus on and how examiners may approach the examination. Each exam can be different, with a number of factors influencing an examiner’s approach, expectations, and focal points. Below is a quick, broad checklist […]
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During a recent speech, Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman addressed new approaches toward bank regulatory policies. These policies seem to adopt a more conciliatory tone towards banks. Below are the key points. The full speech can be found online here:https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bowman20250109a.htm
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Last week, our President, Dr. Brandon Roberts, PhD, spoke on three different topics central to understanding and addressing fair lending risk management in today’s environment. From the changing regulatory landscape to specifics on gathering, maintaining, and understanding lending data to the imminent implications of SB 1071, read on for a recap and resources to learn […]
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We are excited to announce that our founder and President, Dr. Brandon Roberts, will be delivering three insightful talks at the upcoming Mississippi Bankers Association Compliance Conference on October 18th, 2024. These sessions promise to shed light on critical aspects of fair lending and compliance, drawing from Dr. Roberts’ extensive experience and expertise in the […]
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The FDIC’s September 5, 2024 quarterly report of bank earnings reflected an increase from the previous quarter, however assets quality weakened and the number of banks declined by 29. Chairman Gruenberg urged caution, commenting, “Uncertainty in the economic outlook, market interest rates, and geopolitical events, along with continuing weakness in some bank loan portfolios, pose significant […]
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Concern over overdraft fees has been voiced by regulators for over a decade. The agencies, and in particular the CFPB, have focused more attention on this in the past few years, urging banks to change their practices in regard to such fees or eliminate them altogether. As a longstanding practice for banks, and for many […]
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The U.S. economy grew 3.0% in the second quarter, according to the “second estimate” of Real GDP released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), on August 29, 2024. Growth in the 1st quarter was 1.4%, a marked slowdown from the 3.4% observed in the fourth quarter of 2023. The robust second-quarter growth was driven […]
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Risk exists when there is potential for harm coupled with uncertainty of outcomes. The fair lending environment for lenders contains both. The approach to risk mitigation should be one of reducing uncertainty. Below we provide a four-step strategy that can be used to reduce uncertainty and, therefore, mitigate fair lending risk. Step 1: Know Your […]
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