Latest News Aug 7, 2008 Comprehensive Housing Bill Signed into Law Jul 30, 2008 The Red Flags Deadline Is Looming: Best Practices to Meeting Guidelines and Implementing a Successful Solution Jul 25, 2008 FDIC Adopts Insured Deposit Calculation Rules Jul 16, 2008 Fannie, Freddie Uncertainty Prompts Action from Regulators Jun 26, 2008 Treasury Secretary Urges Action on Regulatory Structure Jun 17, 2008 The Subprime Lending Crisis: Causes and Effects of the Mortgage Meltdown   Archive Contact CCH Focus CCH Focus CCHFocusEditor@cch.com   CCH Customer Support Phone: 800.449.6435 Subscriber Invitation Visitors to CCH Focus are invited to submit articles for future issues. Analyses, viewpoints, letters to the editor, manuscripts, legal memoranda and other original materials that could be adapted for publication are welcome. Submissions or queries may be sent to   Serena Lynn, Editor 2700 Lake Cook Road, Riverwoods, Illinois 60015 Phone: 847.267.7087 Fax 847.267.7776 CCHFocusEditor@cch.com

Sign up via Comprehensive Housing Bill Signed into Law By John M. Pachkowski, J.D., Editor, CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter and Bank Digest; Author, Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy: Compliance and the USA PATRIOT Act; Co-Author CCH Financial Privacy Law Guide. Despite an earlier veto threat, President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 into law on July 30, 2008. The Act, called by some the "most comprehensive housing legislation in over a generation," is expected to help hundreds of thousands of Americans who are struggling to keep their homes, as well as countless homeowners and communities that already are experiencing the devastating effects of foreclosure. The Act contains comprehensive reforms to the... Read full article The Red Flags Deadline Is Looming: Best Practices to Meeting Guidelines and Implementing a Successful Solution By Adam Elliott, President, ID Insight.  Reprinted from the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter. With roughly three months left until the FACT Act Red Flag Guidelines compliance deadline, it’s becoming apparent that we collectively have a large mountain to climb. News on the Red Flag Guidelines can be found around every corner these days. Webinars, white papers and industry publications are bursting with information about the impending November 1 deadline. But despite the deadline’s increasing visibility, all of this discussion appears to have done little to spur banks and credit unions into action. In a recent survey by BankInfoSecurity.com, only half of financial institutions said they will beat the compliance deadline for the FACT Act Red Flag Guidelines. This underscores much of what we have been seeing in the market. With the banking crisis still... Read full article FDIC Adopts Insured Deposit Calculation Rules Reprinted from the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has finalized a rule requiring certain large depository institutions to modify their systems in order to facilitate the process for determining the insurance status of depositors in the event of failure. The rule applies only to an estimated 159 “covered institutions,” defined as any insured depository institution with at least $2 billion in domestic deposits and either more than 250,000 deposit accounts or total assets over $20 billion, regardless of the number of deposit accounts. The final rule provides for accelerated implementation on a case-by-case basis for covered institutions exhibiting signs of financial difficulty, such as those with a composite CAMELS rating of 3, 4 or 5. Covered institutions using deposit software or servicing from a vendor should determine whether vendor-supplied functionality will be provided. This deposit insurance modernization... Read full article Fannie, Freddie Uncertainty Prompts Action from Regulators By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington News Bureau. In a move designed to shore up confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve Board announced on July 13 that it will seek authority from Congress to allow the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to have the ability to borrow from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York should it be necessary. The Fed explained that any lending would be at the primary credit rate and collateralized by government and federal agency securities. The move is intended to supplement the Treasury Department’s existing lending authority. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson noted that in addition to granting the Fed the authority to lend to Freddie and Fannie, the proposed plan also would grant temporary authority for the Treasury Department to purchase equity in either of the companies if necessary. Use of either the line of credit with the Fed or the Treasury Department equity investment... Read full article Treasury Secretary Urges Action on Regulatory Structure Reprinted from the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter. The takeover of troubled investment bank Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase, combined with recent market turmoil, points out the need for rapid action to update the current financial regulatory structure, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. said in a June 19, 2008, speech to the Women in Housing and Finance. "We must dramatically expand our attention to the fundamental needs of our system, and move much more quickly to update our regulatory structure," Paulson said. According to Paulson, recent market events have highlighted three clear lessons: Quick consideration is needed on how to most appropriately give the Fed the authority to access necessary information from complex financial institutions and act to mitigate systemic risk in advance of a crisis. Several critical steps must be taken to make sure that market... Read full article The Subprime Lending Crisis: Causes and Effects of the Mortgage Meltdown By Katalina M. Bianco, J.D., CCH Writer Analyst, CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter, CCH Mortgage Compliance Guide and Bank Digest View Printable Version of this White Paper INTRODUCTION The subprime mortgage crisis, popularly known as the “mortgage mess” or “mortgage meltdown,” came to the public’s attention when a steep rise in home foreclosures in 2006 spiraled seemingly out of control in 2007, triggering a national financial crisis that went global within the year. Consumer spending is down, the housing market... Read full article