What's New? PPP Borrower Appeals

The Small Business Administration has issued a final rule, effective September 14, 2021, outlining procedures for borrowers to appeal final SBA Paycheck Protection Program loan review decisions. Read more in The Gold Book.

What's New? SARs Instructions for OCSE

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued Notice OCSE-FIN-2021-NTC3 effective September 16, 2021 to call attention to an increase in online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) and provide financial institutions with specific suspicious activity report (SAR) filing instructions. Read more here in The Gold Book.

What's New? NY HERO Act - UPDATE!

On September 6, 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the commissioner of health designated COVID-19 as a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health under New York State’s HERO Act. Employers must activate the infectious disease exposure prevention plans that were adopted in August 2021. Additionaly the deadline for distribution of the model safety plan is September 4, 2021. Find our more in The Gold Book, NY HERO Act. 

What's New? Juneteenth Federal Holiday

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law this year, establishing June 19, Juneteenth, as a federal holiday. See the full federal holiday schedule from 2021 to 2025 in The Gold Book. 

Regulatory Relief Following Hurricane Ida (NY & NJ)

The FDIC has announced a series of steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of New Jersey and New York affected by remnants of Hurricane Ida.

• The FDIC is encouraging banks to work constructively with borrowers experiencing difficulties beyond their control because of damage caused by Hurricane Ida.
• Banks that extend repayment terms, restructure existing loans, or ease terms for new loans in a manner consistent with sound banking practices can contribute to the health of the local community and serve the long-term interests of the lending institution.
• Banks may receive favorable Community Reinvestment Act consideration for community development loans, investments, and services in support of disaster recovery.
• The FDIC also will consider regulatory relief from certain filing and publishing requirements.

A copy of the Guidance can be found on the FDIC’s website.

Federal COVID Response Plans

This week, President Biden announced a new set of COVID response and vaccine plans.  Among other items, the plan's directives will affect employers including some financial institutions. 

The plan will:

• Direct the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require vaccination or provide a negative test for the virus weekly.  OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement, though no timeframe for that rule has been announced. 
• Direct OSHA to develop a rule to require employers with more than 100 workers to provide paid time off in order to be vaccinated (note this is already required by New York State - read more in The Gold Book.)

The plan also outlines information on changes to the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and streamlining Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness for small loans. The full plan (still in development) can be accessed here. 

What's New? Model Risk Management Handbook

The OCC has issued a new “Model Risk Management” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook. The new booklet provides information needed to plan and coordinate examinations on model risk management, identify deficient practices, and conduct appropriate follow-up. For more details, visit The Gold Book.

What's New? State Chartered Banks

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill, passed in March, that requires New York state-chartered banks offering consumer checking accounts to pay checks in the order they are received, or from smallest to largest dollar amount for each business day's transactions. Under the new law, banks may dishonor a check for insufficient funds, but then must honor smaller checks within amounts on deposit in the subject account. Read more in The Gold Book. 

What's New? SBA PPP Servicing Procedures

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, as amended by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and the PPP Extension Act of 2021, authorized SBA to guarantee loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a new temporary 7(a) program, through June 30, 2021. PPP loans made under sections 7(a)(36) and (37) of the Small Business Act are referred to as “First Draw PPP Loans” and “Second Draw PPP Loans,” respectively. (Both are hereinafter referred to as “PPP loan” or “loan”.) The purpose of this Notice is to remind PPP Lenders of their servicing responsibilities and to advise PPP Lenders of the guaranty purchase process for SBA to honor its 100% guaranty on a PPP loan. The servicing rules effective July 15, 2021 may be found here in The Gold Book. 

What's New? NY Hero Act Compliance Date Announced

By August 4, 2021, all New York employers with worksites (of any size) located in New York must either adopt the applicable Model Plan provided by the NY DOL, or establish an alternative plan that meets or exceeds the minimum provided by the model standard. If an employer develops its own plan or a different exposure plan, it must do so in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement, or if there is no collective bargaining representative, with the “meaningful participation” of employees. Read about the NY HERO Act in The Gold Book.

New FedNow Service

The FedNow Service is a new instant payment service that the Federal Reserve Banks are developing to enable financial institutions of every size, and in every community across the U.S., to provide safe and efficient instant payment services in real time, around the clock, every day of the year. Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals will be able to send and receive instant payments conveniently, and recipients will have full access to funds within seconds, giving them greater flexibility to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments. Consistent with the Federal Reserve’s historical role of providing payment services alongside private-sector providers, the FedNow Service will provide choice in the market for clearing and settling instant payments as well as promote resiliency through redundancy. Financial institutions and their service providers will be able to use the service as a springboard to provide innovative instant payment services to customers. We will update this page as we have more information about this new service, which is under development and will continue to evolve.

Implementing the FedNow Service in an efficient and safe manner remains a high priority for the Federal Reserve. The FedNow Service will launch in 2023 and will be deployed in phases so that the initial service can be launched expeditiously with additional features and enhancements released in stages after the initial launch. This phased approach will allow for adjustments and improvements in response to industry needs or changes in technology.

The Federal Reserve has issued a proposed rule that would:

• govern funds transfers over the Federal Reserve’s new 24x7x365 service to support instant payments,
• amend the Federal Reserve’s Regulation J to establish a new subpart C that would set out the legal rights and obligations of the Federal Reserve Banks and FedNow service participants,
• include a requirement that the beneficiary’s bank must make funds available to the beneficiary of a FedNow transfer immediately after the beneficiary’s bank has accepted the payment order over the FedNow service,
• expand and clarify the applicability of Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”)—the uniform state law governing funds transfers—to funds transfers made with the FedNow service, 
• allow participating banks to choose to settle payments over the service in the master account of a correspondent bank.

The FedNow services are expected to be available in 2023. Read more here on the Federal Reserve website.

OCC to Reconsider CRA June 2020 Rule

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published in the Federal Register on June 5, 2020, a final rule (June 2020 rule) to modernize the agency’s regulations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The OCC has determined that it will reconsider the June 2020 rule. While this reconsideration is ongoing, the OCC will not object to the suspension of the development of systems for, or other implementation of, provisions with a compliance date of January 1, 2023, or January 1, 2024, under the 2020 CRA rule. At this time, the OCC also does not plan to finalize the December 4, 2020, proposed rule that requested comment on an approach to determine the CRA evaluation measure benchmarks, retail lending distribution test thresholds, and community development minimums under the June 2020 rule. 

Read more on CRA in The Gold Book. 

What's New? NYS POA Rules Effective June 13th

New York State recently reformed the statutory short form power of attorney for purposes of financial and estate planning, effective June 13, 2021. The changes are designed to simplify the POA form, allow for substantially compliant language as opposed to exact wording, provide safe-harbor provision for good-faith acceptance of an acknowledged POA, and allow sanctions for those who unreasonably refuse to accept a valid POA. In addition, there are also a number of technical amendments.

Learn more in The Gold Book,  New York Power of Attorney section.

What's New? NY Hero Act

On May 5, 2021, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (NY HERO Act), which mandates extensive new workplace health and safety protections in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The act places the responsibilty upon employers to protect their workforce from COVID-19 and other airborne infectious diseases. While New York employers are already required to abide by Governor Cuomo’s executive orders and adopt the New York Forward industry-specific guidances and reopening guidelines, the act sets forth mandatory standards not just for COVID-19, but for all airborne infectious diseases. Read more in The Gold Book.

What's New? Protecting New Yorkers Stimulus Payments from Debt Collectors

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently signed legislation (S.5923-A/A.6617-A) protecting New Yorkers' COVID-19 stimulus payments from being garnished by debt collectors. All relief payments to New Yorkers under these federal acts, including stimulus payments, tax refunds, rebates, and tax credits to support individuals and children qualified for or received prior to the effective date, will be protected. This legislation also creates a carve-out for claims brought by individuals who have an interest in the relief payments to ensure that these funds can be collected to pay child and spousal support and to collect payments in situations involving fraud. This became effective May 13, 2021.

Please see Stimulus Payment Protections in the NY Covid-10 Relief section and Statutorily Exempt Payments in the Adverse Claims section of The Gold Book for more information.

Qualified Mortgage Final Rule Extended

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a final rule to extend the mandatory compliance date of the General QM Final Rule from July 1, 2021 to October 1, 2022.

The final rule is available at: www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/final-rules/qualified-mortgage-definition-under-truth-lending-act-regulation-z-general-qm-loan-definition-delay-mandatory-compliance-date/

The Bureau has also issued an executive summary and an unofficial redline of the rule and has updated other compliance aids related to the ATR/QM Rule. The resources are available at: www.consumerfinance.gov/compliance/compliance-resources/mortgage-resources/ability-repay-qualified-mortgage-rule/.

Read more in The Gold Book.

What's New? NYS COVID-19-Related Safety Protocols

Governor Cuomo has passed the New York HERO Act which will require businesses to have permanent and enforceable COVID-19-related safety protocols in place. Read more about NY HERO ACT in The Gold Book in the NYS Covid-19 Relief chapter.

What's New? ECOA (Reg B) Clarification

On March 9, 2021, the CFPB issued an Interpretive Rule to clarify that the prohibition against sex discrimination encompasses sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination, including discrimination based on actual or perceived nonconformity with sex-based or gender-based stereotypes and discrimination based on an applicant’s associations. Read more in The Gold Book, Regulation B.

What's New? NYS POA Rules Change in June

On December 15, 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law amendments changing New York’s General Obligations Law governing powers of attorney (“POA”). The new law is effective on June 13, 2021 and is intended to simplify the POA form language which is prone to improper execution. Read more in The Gold Book, NYS Power of Attorney section.

2020 Tax Filing Deadline Extended

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service has extended the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. 

This extension also applies to the deadline for Individual Retirement Account contributions for 2020.