Call Report Burden Reduction Initiative

As part of its community bank Call Report burden-reduction initiative, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has approved a number of burden-reducing changes to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) as well as certain new and revised data items and instructional revisions. Subject to approval by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, these Call Report revisions will take effect September 30, 2016, or March 31, 2017, depending on the change.

Additional information may be found at:  http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2016/fil16045.html

What's New? Overtime Pay Rule

On May 18, 2016 President Obama and Secretary Perez announced the publication of the Department of Labor’s final rule updating the overtime regulations, which will automatically extend overtime pay protections to over 4 million workers within the first year of implementation. This long-awaited update will result in a meaningful boost to many workers’ wallets, and will go a long way toward realizing President Obama’s commitment to ensuring every worker is compensated fairly for their hard work. For more information, please see Overtime Pay in The Gold Book or visit www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/final2016.

MasterCard Network Enhancements

MasterCard is introducing a multitude of authorization processing changes that include new methods to identify the type of authorization, changes to authorization reversal timeframes, changes to chargeback timeframes, and the extension of incremental authorizations to all merchant types.

These changes will help issuers effectively manage cardholders open to buy, and to manage chargeback protection maximum timeframe limits based on authorization types.  

 

IRA Penalty Free Distributions Expanded

The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act) was signed into law on Friday, December 18. Parts of the act include a provision that expands a taxpayer's ability to take a penalty-free distribution from an IRA nd Coverdell Education IRAs for higher education.

The list of eligible expenses that are not subject to the IRS 10% early distribution penalty has been expanded to include expenses for the purchase of computers and related equipment, software, and internet access expenses, if used primarily by a student during any of the years they are in school. 

See more in The Gold Book: Educational Expenses Rule and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts Distributions.

CFPB Proposal to End Payday Debt Traps

In June, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule aimed at ending payday debt traps by requiring lenders to take steps to make sure consumers have the ability to repay their loans. The proposed rule would also cut off repeated debit attempts that rack up fees. These strong proposed protections would cover payday loans, auto title loans, deposit advance products, and certain high-cost installment and open-end loans. The CFPB is also launching an inquiry into other products and practices that may harm consumers facing cash shortfalls. 

A factsheet summarizing the proposed rule is available at:http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/CFPB_Proposes_Rule_End_Payday_Debt_Traps.pdf

Host State Loan-to-Deposit Ratios Updated

Joint agencies issued host state loan-to-deposit ratios that they will use to determine compliance with section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. These ratios replace the prior year’s ratios, which were released on June 29, 2015.

In general, section 109 prohibits:

• a bank from establishing or acquiring a branch or branches outside of its home state primarily for the purpose of deposit production, and
• branches of banks controlled by out-of-state bank holding companies from operating primarily for the purpose of deposit production.

Section 109 also provides a process to test compliance with the statutory requirements. A bank that fails both steps is in violation of section 109 and is subject to sanctions by the appropriate agency.

The updated host state loan-to-deposit ratios may be found here.

What's New? NYC Human Rights Law

The Human Rights Law section of the Human Resources chapter has been updated to include new laws regarding the Criminal Records and Employment Credit Checks when evaluating potential job candidates. 

What's New? New text added to Human Resources chapter

The Laws Regulating Labor Relations section of the Human Resources chapter has been update to include information about Meal Breaks for employees and Time Off to Vote in elections. 

What's New? Federal Holiday Schedule

The Federal Holiday Schedule has been updated through 2019. Click here to view.

What's New? myRA Retirement Accounts

Effective November 4, 2015 a new type of retirement account, the myRA is available through the U.S. Treasury. The myRA works like a Roth IRA and is for taxpayers who do not have a 401(k) plan or other employer sponsored retirement plan. Click here for details.

What's New? CRA Asset Size Threshold Change

On December 22, 2015, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define 'Small Bank,' 'Small Savings Association,' 'Intermediate Small Bank,' and 'Intermediate Small Savings Association' under the CRA Regulations. See Bank Size Criteria.

What's New? Charitable Rollovers for IRA Owners Over 70-1/2

A provision allowing qualified charitable donations from IRAs has been extended through 2015 and made permanent for future years. Individuals age 70½ or over may exclude up to $100,000 from gross income for donations paid directly to a qualified charity from their IRA. See Charitable Donations .

What's New? Increase to NYS Wage Exemption Amount for Restraining Notices and Levies

The New York Exempt Income Protection Act (“EIPA”), effective January 1, 2009, amended Article 52 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”) to limit the ability of judgment creditors and others to restrain Social Security and other exempt funds. 

Beginning April 1, 2012, the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services is required, and at each three year interval thereafter, to update the current dollar amount of exemption from enforcement of judgments under New York Civil Practice Law.

Because the New York State minimum wage is increasing from $8.75 to $9.00 an hour as of December 31, 2015, the amount of the wage exemption under the EIPA is increasing from $2,100 to $2,160 as of that date.

Read more in The Gold Book under Exemptions.

What's New? Threshold for Smaller Loan Exemption from Appraisal Requirements for Higher-Priced Mortgage Loans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Reserve Board, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that the threshold for exempting loans from special appraisal requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans during 2016 will remain $25,500.

Click here to read more in The Gold Book. 

What's New? Dollar Thresholds in Regulations Z and M for Exempt Consumer Credit and Lease Transactions

The Federal Reserve Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing) that will apply for determining exempt consumer credit and lease transactions in 2016. These thresholds are set pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amendments to the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act that require adjusting these thresholds annually based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Click here to see details in The Gold Book.

New HMDA Rules

The CFPB recently published the final rule to Regulation C, which implements HMDA. The new rule makes changes to covered institutions and transactions. The new rule also changes the information institutions collect and report about mortgage loans and applications. Stay tuned for Gold Book updates concerning the final rule and its implementation.

What's New? 2016 Cost-of-Living Adjustments

The Internal Revenue Service announced cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2016. In general, the pension plan limitations will not change for 2016 because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment.

However, other limitations will change because the increase in the index did meet the statutory thresholds.

See the following sections in The Gold Book for updates:

Income phase-out for IRA deductions, click here.

Roth IRA contribution phase-out, click here.

AGI limit for Saver's Credit, click here.

Cost-of Living Chart, click here.

What's New? Chip Card POS Technology

Most credit card issuers in the United States and over 80 countries worldwide have adopted chip card technology, also known as EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa). 

Beginning today, banks and other card issuers may be liable for fraudulant credit or debit card activity if this technology has not been adopted. 

Read more in The Gold Book.

What's New?: ATR/QM Rule & High Cost Mortgage Rule Updates

The CFPB has updated the loan amounts for points and fees calculations under the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortage rule and High-Cost Mortgage Rule. These amounts have been updated for inflation and are effective beginning January 1, 2016. 

See Qualified Mortgages: Limitations and High-Cost Mortgages in The Gold Book.

Free FDIC Seminars

The FDIC will conduct live seminars on FDIC deposit insurance coverage for bank employees and bank officers between September 24, 2015, and December 2, 2015.

In addition, the FDIC has developed three separate Deposit Insurance Coverage Seminars for bank officers and employees, which are now available on FDIC's YouTube channel.

Both the live and the YouTube deposit insurance coverage seminars will provide bank employees with an understanding of how to calculate deposit insurance coverage. The live seminars each provide a comprehensive overview of FDIC deposit insurance. The three YouTube seminars cover: Fundamentals of Deposit Insurance Coverage; Deposit Insurance Coverage for Revocable Trust Accounts; and Advanced Topics in Deposit Insurance Coverage.

Click here for more information.