Regulatory relief

In an update of its rulemaking agenda, the bureau said it "expects to take final action in April 2020" on a proposal that would rescind strong underwriting requirements.

The agency will review the TRID regulation, which combined disclosure requirements of two separate laws, as part of a mandate to evaluate major policies five years after their effective date.

The 2015 decision posed new legal challenges for institutions trying to sell loans to third parties, but the federal regulatory agency proposed steps Monday for banks and debt parties to evade state interest rate caps.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s exemption from the Qualified Mortgage rule is on borrowed time, but a House bill would allow lenders to use the mortgage giants’ guidelines for documenting borrower income.

The reforms will result in significant changes to the proprietary trading ban first proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and mandated in the Dodd-Frank Act.

The industry had welcomed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plan allowing debt collectors to use electronic communication, but some worry about the effect of a court decision concerning email correspondence.

The bureau issued three policies removing the threat of legal liability for approved companies that test new products.

The agencies handed banks a significant victory when they finalized revisions to the Dodd-Frank proprietary trading ban, but officials also plan to re-propose changes to the “covered funds” section of the rule.

After two regulatory agencies adopted final revisions to the rule, Dodd-Frank defenders expressed concern that the amendments to the proprietary trading ban undermined the post-crisis statute.

The agencies had proposed an "accounting prong" as an alternative means to determine which proprietary trades are banned, but their final rule heeded industry concerns that that would be worse than the current approach.

Banks stand to enjoy new flexibility in complying with Dodd-Frank’s proprietary trading ban, but it remains to be seen if regulators will grant them all the relief they have sought.

President Trump has signed the Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act, which aims to address concerns that rules around certain VA refinances were impeding those loans' inclusion in secondary market pools.

In her first four and a half months, Kathy Kraninger met with lawmakers more than twice as often as her predecessor, but her schedule demonstrates willingness to meet with industry and policy stakeholders from various camps.

The agency's spring rulemaking agenda includes the process for collecting small-business data as well as underwriting rules for GSE-backed loans. But what's missing from the list may be just as important.

Kathy Kraninger, the bureau's director, is in a standoff with Democrats about her claim that the agency cannot supervise institutions under the Military Lending Act.

Brian Johnson, a Republican political appointee at the CFPB, has been named the agency's deputy director, the No. 2 job behind Director Kathy Kraninger.

As the central bank board proceeds with reforms easing the post-crisis regulatory regime, the Obama-appointed governor has not shied from opposing the agency’s course.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed steps to ease Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements, just days after announcing it was retiring a platform to let users analyze raw mortgage data.

The head of the central bank declined to provide more specifics on efforts to simplify the ban on banks’ proprietary trading.

Director Kathy Kraninger said the agency will emphasize a confidential supervisory process instead of just doling out public enforcement actions. But skeptics worry this will let companies escape punishment.