Good afternoon —
The regulatory landscape under the Biden administration continues to be a very challenging one for those involved in mortgage finance.
In years past, the CFPB has often been in the enforcement spotlight, but this week saw two actions by banking's OG regulator, the OCC.
Earlier this week, the OCC moved to rescind the 2020 version of the CRA rule, proposing to replace the federal anti-redlining rule with rules adopted jointly by the OCC, FDIC and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1995.
It's a step back to a more collaborative time where the agencies worked in concert on the goals for housing equity, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu, said. "The OCC is committed to working with the Federal Reserve and FDIC on a future joint rulemaking to develop a consistent framework across all banks that encourages higher levels of responsible lending, investments, services, and greater community engagement..."
This week the OCC also slapped Wells Fargo with a $250 million civil money penalty for "unsafe or unsound practices" on a three-year-old consent order. More interesting, the OCC has issued a cease-and-desist order against Wells for its failure to establish "an effective home lending loss mitigation program."
The bank is restricted "from acquiring certain third-party residential mortgage servicing and requires the bank to ensure that borrowers are not transferred out of the bank's loan servicing portfolio until remediation is provided, except as required by an investor pursuant to a contractual right," the OCC said.
The OCC isn't the only regulator scrutinizing the mortgage industry, or even the most active. We're covering the whole alphabet soup of regulators and what you should expect at our HW Annual event in Dallas on Sept. 27-28.
Come join us for the regulatory panel and much more, including a keynote by cybersecurity expert Selim Aissi, a fireside chat on mortgage innovation with Tim Mayopoulos, and the housing forecast from Logan Mohtashami. Find out all the details here. Our HW+ members get a highly discounted rate and you can take advantage of that by signing up here.
Until next week —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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