CFPB, Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have announced that its supervisory examinations of 2018 HMDA data will be diagnostic.  The objective is to help companies identify any weaknesses, and will credit good-faith efforts to comply.

Fully 5,800 financial institutions submitted their 2017 HMDA filings through the CFPB’s new online platform, according to Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, who was testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

[caption id="attachment_5251" align="alignleft" width="150"] CFPB to perform HMDA diagnostic reviews.[/caption]

The platform enables a financial institution to upload loan application registers, review edits, certify data, and submit data for the filing year without the manual processes required in past years. CFPB plans to review existing rules to find ways to ease undue burdens and protect consumer choice. The Bureau will structure itself and conduct operations in a way that reduces redundancy and makes the best use of resources.

“Above all, the Bureau must be efficient.  That means I will organize the agency and conduct its operations in ways that reduce redundancy and make the most of our resources,” said Mulvaney. “For example, the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity is being moved to the Director’s Office, to become part of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Fairness.  The Office of Fair Lending will continue to focus on advocacy, coordination, and education.”

The Bureau will continue to supervise and enforce fair lending laws through the soon-to-be-renamed Division of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending.  There will be one office, not two, that handles enforcement matters, supervision policy, as well as supervision examinations.   The aim is to ensure that enforcement and supervision more efficient, effective, and accountable.

In another change, the Bureau practice of “regulation by enforcement” has ceased. The Bureau will continue to enforce the law.  The aim is for people to know what the rules are before the Bureau accuses them of violating them.