The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) said this week that the proposed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) would not disrupt data collection and reporting on the ethnicity, race and sex of borrowers by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), as some opponents of the legislation have claimed.
ICBA stated that the bill would actually maintain these and other longstanding HMDA data fields.
“It’s time to clear up some of the misinformation that is spreading about S. 2155—it does not at all affect longstanding and already-detailed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data-collection requirements,” ICBA President and CEO Camden Fine said. “Those community banks that have been required to collect and report HMDA data on covered mortgage loans will continue to do so and report on an annual basis as they did for decades until the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dramatically expanded reporting mandates in 2015. S. 2155 takes a common-sense approach to ensure necessary data will continue to be reported without overburdening low-volume lenders.”
This bill, which seeks to ease regulations for banks in various ways, including establishing higher asset thresholds for systemically important financial institution designations, and easing of stress testing and formal risk committee requirements. It is expected to be voted on in the Senate soon.
As for HDMA reporting, lenders would still be required to collect and report the 23 HMDA data fields in place prior to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2015 HMDA rule.
ICBA said the S. 2155 provision affecting HMDA reporting exempts certain low-volume community banks with satisfactory or better Community Reinvestment Act ratings only from the 25 additional data fields mandated by the 2015 rule. Further, banks that originate fewer than 500 closed-end mortgage loans or 500 open-ended lines of credit would be exempt from the expanded reporting required by the 2015 rule.