FDIC Issues Four Final Rules on OTS Regulations

The FDIC recently published four final rules that rescind and remove certain regulations that were transferred to the FDIC from the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) as part of the Dodd-Frank Act.  These rules are part of an ongoing policy objective at the FDIC to evaluate the transferred OTS regulations and remove unnecessary and duplicative regulations.

The final rules relate to:

• The “Nondiscrimination Requirements” regulation, which will be rescinded and removed while the existing “Fair Housing” regulation is amended to make it applicable to State savings associations.  The FDIC notes that this will streamline the rules by eliminating duplicative regulations and ensure that insured State nonmember banks and State savings associations generally will be subject to the same nondiscrimination requirements.
• The application processing procedures for certain applications, notices, and filings by State savings associations and technical changes to other regulations.  The FDIC notes that after the final rule the filing regulations that pertain to State savings associations and all other FDIC-supervised institutions will be substantially the same.
• The provisions regarding subordinate organizations of State savings associations.  The FDIC stated that it determined these requirements were substantially similar to the requirements for State savings associations and their subsidiaries as set out in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDI Act) and its implementing regulations.
• The issuance and review of orders pursuant to the prompt corrective action provisions of the FDI Act, in order to make it clear that these rules apply to all insured depository institutions for which the FDIC is the appropriate Federal banking agency.

The FDIC did not receive comments on any of the related notices of proposed rulemaking.  All four final rules are effective March 5, 2021.  The final rule on the Nondiscrimination Requirements notes that compliance with the regulation regarding displaying the current address of the FDIC’s Consumer Response Center on an Equal Housing Lender poster is mandatory on February 3, 2022.