Financial regulations

Refinancing activity is surging, existing borrowers are inquiring about loan modifications, loan closings are being delayed by more complex credit checks — and banks are short on people to handle it all.

Leonard Chanin, a senior official at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has been tapped to serve on a part-time basis as the No. 2 official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a news report.

In the past, the agency cited the legal term in enforcement actions without stating what it meant, but Director Kathy Kraninger has sought to give the industry clearer guidance.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to ask the legislature to revamp the current Department of Business Oversight and rename it the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, modeled after the federal CFPB.

A new National Credit Union Administration proposal would raise the threshold for residential mortgages that require appraisals. However, the final rule is by no means a done deal.

Draft legislation would amend the Bank Service Company Act to give the National Credit Union Administration third-party vendor oversight, a power it has been requesting for the better part of two decades.

The industry had welcomed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plan allowing debt collectors to use electronic communication, but some worry about the effect of a court decision concerning email correspondence.

The three federal banking agencies moved to raise the threshold for residential transactions that require an appraisal from $250,000 to $400,000.

New plans for a ballot initiative in November 2020 threaten to overturn concessions that financial institutions, tech firms and other companies have won from state lawmakers.