ViewPoint Live Explores Stress Tests, Compliance Issues
Bank profitability and loan growth continued to improve in late 2014, particularly for companies with assets between $1 billion and $10 billion, Atlanta Fed executive vice president of Supervision and Regulation (S&R) Mike Johnson said during a recent ViewPoint Live webcast.
In the latest online broadcast aimed at bankers, Johnson also explained distinctions between the stress tests that banks of different sizes undergo as required by the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform law. And Atlanta Fed S&R vice president Juan Sanchez discussed consumer compliance concerns including problems related to flood insurance on properties that secure loans, unfair and deceptive acts or practices, redlining, fair lending, and the Community Reinvestment Act.
The Atlanta Fed officials also explained changes in bank examination schedules, noting that the Fed aims to reduce the regulatory burden on financial institutions as it carries out its statutory responsibilities. Since the Dodd-Frank Act passed in 2010, banks have faced a more demanding regulatory environment, Johnson said.
But through communications channels like ViewPoint Live, the Atlanta Fed wants to reduce uncertainty commercial bankers may feel about what is required of them. "We want to have a good, active dialogue to reduce that (uncertainty) as much as possible," Johnson said.
A central concern is to keep bankers aware of regulatory changes so institutions won't needlessly kill new products for fear of noncompliance with rules, Sanchez pointed out.
The half-hour ViewPoint webcast, broadcast live on April 28 and available for replay takes its name from ViewPoint, a quarterly publication on the Atlanta Fed's website.