STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Register Today for 2021 IBA Regional Meetings
Register today and join us for a series of regional meetings around the state. The IBA has implemented these meetings in an effort to facilitate grassroots communication between the bankers we serve and the legislators who serve our state. The meetings include an hour-long update on the IBA, including legislative information and advocacy opportunities. Following the update, local legislators from the Indiana General Assembly will meet for lunch with bankers from the community. This year, the IBA will be hosting 5 regional meetings, each beginning at 11:00 a.m. local time. Follow the links below for your preferred location and register today!
Columbus
Hotel Indigo Columbus Architectural Center
Tuesday, September 7
Click here to register
Indianapolis
The Columbia Club
Thursday, September 16
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Fair Oaks
The Farmhouse Restaurant at Fair Oaks Farms
New Date! Monday, October 4
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Evansville
The Bauerhaus
Tuesday, October 5
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Fort Wayne
The Landmark Centre
New Date! Monday, October 25
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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Supreme Court Invalidates CDC Eviction Moratorium
The Supreme Court has invalidated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new eviction moratorium, ruling that those challenging the moratorium are "virtually certain to succeed on the merits of their argument that the CDC has exceeded its authority."
By a 6-3 decision, the court upheld a lower court ruling finding that the CDC moratorium was unlawful. The district court ruling had been stayed pending appeals to the Supreme Court. "It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts," the court opinion said.
The CDC on Aug. 3 suspended evictions through Oct. 3 in counties with "high" or "substantial" levels of transmission, which currently applies to all but a handful of small rural counties. The CDC's earlier nationwide moratorium expired on July 31. The policy had been allowed to continue by a 5-4 decision in the Supreme Court early in July, although one justice voting to permit it said he agreed with the lower court ruling overturning the moratorium but allowed it to continue since it would soon expire.
FHFA Updates Guidelines for Adverse Classification of Assets at GSEs, FHLBs
The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday updated its guidelines for adverse and non-adverse classification of assets at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The guidelines describe sound practices for managing credit risk at the regulated entities. FHFA also outlined procedures for listing assets for special mention. The advisory bulletin issued by FHFA rescinds and replaces several previously issued bulletins on asset classifications.
The bulletin outlines how to make adverse classifications for single-family residential mortgage loans, multifamily residential mortgage loans, other real estate owned, other assets including off-balance sheet credit exposures, and FHLB advances.
Trade Groups Warn Against Re-Codifying 2013 Disparate Impact Rule
The American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America and two other banking and mortgage groups this week warned that re-codifying the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2013 disparate impact rule would run afoul of binding Supreme Court precedent. HUD proposed to recodify the 2013 rule, which would effectively nullify the previous administration’s September 2020 changes to that rule to align it more closely with the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, which recognized disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act and explained the legal requirements for disparate impact claims.
The trade groups pointed out that HUD’s proposed recodification of the 2013 rule would reinstate a legal standard that is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling and highlighted several specific areas of inconsistency. The letter is intended help ensure that HUD codifies a standard of disparate impact that is fully consistent with Supreme Court precedent and implements the Fair Housing Act’s requirements with a clear legal framework to address unlawful discrimination.
The trade groups also emphasized that changes to the rule with each new administration creates uncertainty for industry and fair housing advocates, and undermines the Fair Housing Act’s goal of expanding availability of housing including mortgage credit.
CFPB Issues Specifications for Credit Card Agreement, Data Submission
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last Friday issued technical specifications for complying with credit card agreement and data submission requirements under Truth in Lending Act and the CARD Act. Credit card issuers should use the CFPB’s new “Collect” website to submit required information to the bureau. Card issuers must register to use the Collect site by emailing a registration form to collect_support@cfpb.gov.
Credit card issuers who are required to make quarterly credit card submissions to the Bureau pursuant to 12 CFR 1026.58(c) must register for Collect by Nov. 1. Once card issuers receive their login credentials, starting on Dec. 1, they will be able to review their current submissions and make the required submissions for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2021 using Collect.
Download the registration form
Treasury, Agencies Urge Financial Institutions to Offer USD Libor Alternatives
In a letter to nonfinancial corporations, the heads of the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission addressed the ongoing Libor transition, noting that “a smooth transition will be best supported if financial institutions offer alternatives to USD Libor that meet borrower needs and if this is done in a timely fashion.”
The letter came after nonfinancial corporate trade groups raised concerns about the Libor transition, including challenges with finding loan agreements based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the Alternate Reference Rates Committee’s preferred Libor alternative.
“We have stressed the importance of reference rates built on deep, liquid markets that are not susceptible to manipulation,” the policymakers wrote. “Although the official sector is not positioned to adjudicate the selection of reference rates between banks and their commercial customers, borrower preferences and needs clearly have a significant role to play in the selection of such rates.”
In other reference rate news, CME Group has announced that cash-settled, three-month futures on the Bloomberg Short-Term Bank Yield Index are now trading alongside SOFR, Eurodollars and Fed Funds futures. BSBY is a forward-looking, credit sensitive reference rate that tracks the U.S. wholesale unsecured funding market. Meanwhile, Cboe Global Markets has announced that it will begin listing futures on the Ameribor Term-30 benchmark starting Sept. 13. Ameribor is based on actual interbank transactions among the members of the American Financial Exchange.
Read more about Ameribor futures