Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The ASC of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) amended the following sections of the ASC Rules of Operation: 1. Section 3.04.a to provide for selection of a Vice Chairperson by ASC members with the Vice Chairperson's term of office running concurrently with the Chairperson's term; 2. Section 1.02(8) to define ``Vice Chairperson'' consistent with section 3.04.a; and 3. As a technical correction, Section 1.02(3) to remove the reference to the Office of Thrift Supervision (which became part of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency July 21, 2011). 4. The definition of ``member agency'' footnotes the amendment to section 1011 of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act by the Dodd-Frank Act to include designees of the heads of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The ASC Rules of Operation serve as corporate bylaws outlining the ASC's purpose, functions, authority, organization and operation.

Under authority in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act), the ASC approved a modification of the annual National Registry fee to $40 from the current $25 amount at its meeting on October 13, 2010. The ASC raised the National Registry Fee to support its supervisory activities, including additional authority under the Dodd-Frank Act (see Bulletin 10-1, Modification of Annual National Registry Fee, 75 FR 65629, October 26, 2010). In the event a State encounters difficulty with implementing the modified National Registry fee by January 1, 2012, the State must notify the ASC no later than October 31, 2011. The ASC will consider a State's request for an extension of the effective date of the modified National Registry fee when extenuating circumstances prevent compliance and the State has acted in good faith to implement any actions necessary for achieving compliance. Extenuating circumstances include, but are not limited to, the following: The State was not able to enact necessary legislation or promulgate a rulemaking to implement the modified National Registry fee by January 1, 2012. The State could not exercise emergency or temporary authority, if any, to pass legislation or promulgate a rulemaking to implement the modified National Registry fee by January 1, 2012. The funds remitted by the State to the ASC to pay the modified National Registry fee would come from a source other than the credentialed appraiser. States must ensure that any request for an extension contains sufficient detail regarding the State's efforts to achieve compliance to date, and the extenuating circumstances that will prevent compliance.

Pursuant to section 1473(p) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Act), the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) has determined that no one national hotline presently exists that fully complies with the Act. The determination was made on January 12, 2011, during the ASC's open meeting. In making this determination, the ASC initiated a project to study the establishment and operation of a national appraisal complaint hotline as required by the Act.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (Council or FFIEC), on behalf of its members, is amending its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations. Among other things, this final rule revises the procedures to be used by members of the public in requesting records maintained by the Council, the time limits in which the Council must make a determination on disclosure in response to a request for records, and the time period in which a requester has the right to administratively appeal any adverse determination made on a request for records, and provides procedures to be used to request expedited processing of FOIA requests.