The Board issued Overview of State Member Bank Examination Frequency and Coordination following recent changes to the criteria for state member banks and U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks to be eligible for an expanded examination cycle of 18 months (as opposed to 12 months). The guidance became effective March 10, 2016 (Guidance, Examinations and Inspections at 3-1532.7).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interim final rule amending certain provisions of Regulation Z in light of title LXXXIX of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, entitled the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act, Public Law 114-94. The amendments to Regulation Z concern two matters: More... The eligibility of certain small creditors that operate in rural or underserved areas for special provisions that permit the origination of balloon-payment qualified mortgages and balloon-payment high cost mortgages and for an exemption from the requirement to establish an escrow account for higher-priced mortgage loans and the determination of whether an area is rural for the purposes of Regulation Z. The interim final rule became effective March 31, 2016 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z at 6-5600, Docket CFPB-2016-0013) and was published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2016.

The Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z require credit card issuers to submit their currently-offered credit card agreements to the CFPB, to be posted on the CFPB’s website. In April 2015, the CFPB suspended that submission obligation for a period of one year. More... That suspension has expired, and the next submission is due on the first business day on or after April 30, 2016 (i.e., May 2, 2016). Credit card issuers should visit the CFPB’s website for instructions on submitting credit card agreements. The notice of expiration of suspension was issued on March 28, 2016 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z at 6-5600) and was published in the Federal Register on April 5, 2016.

The Board is inviting public comment on proposed clarifying revisions to the Board’s rule regarding risk-based capital surcharges for U.S.-based global systemically important bank holding companies (GSIBs). More... The proposed rule would modify the GSIB surcharge rule to provide that a bank holding company subject to the rule would continue to calculate its method 1 and method 2 GSIB surcharge scores annually using data as of December 31 of the previous calendar year, even though the data will be due quarterly beginning with the June 30, 2016, report. In addition, the proposed rule would clarify that a bank holding company subject to the GSIB surcharge rule is required to calculate its method 2 GSIB surcharge score using systemic indicator amounts expressed in billions of dollars, even though the data is reported in millions of dollars. The preamble to the proposed rule also provides clarifying information on how a covered bank holding company should calculate its short-term wholesale funding score for purposes of calculating its method 2 score under the GSIB surcharge rule. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by May 13, 2016 (Docket R-1535).