Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Community Development and Consumer Protection

Subtitle A: Community Development Banking and Financial

Institutions Act

Subtitle B: Home Ownership and Equity Protection

Title II: Small Business Capital Formation

Subtitle A: Small Business Loan Securitization

Subtitle B: Small Business Capital Enhancement

Title III: Paperwork Reduction and Regulatory Improvement

Title IV: Money Landering

Title V: Fair Trade in Financial Services

Title VI: National Flood Insurance Reform

Subtitle A: Definitions

Subtitle B: Compliance and Increased Participation

Subtitle C: Ratings and Incentives for Community

Floodplain Management Programs

Subtitle D: Mitigation of Flood and Erosion Risks

Subtitle E: Flood Insurance Task Force

Subtitle F: Miscellaneous Provisions

Title VII: General Provisions

Community Development, Credit Enhancement, and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 -Title I: Community Development and Consumer Protection - Subtitle A: Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act - Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 - Establishes the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (the Fund) as a wholly owned Government corporation to promote economic revitalization and community development through an investment and assistance program for community development financial institutions.

(Sec. 104) Vests Fund management in an Administrator. Directs the Administrator to establish the Community Development Advisory Board (the Board) to advise on Fund policies, but not on the granting or denial of any particular application. Cites circumstances under which an applicant may be considered an agency or instrumentality of a State government even though there is no existing community development financial institution in operation on the date of enactment of this Act. Prescribes selection criteria for community partnerships and institutions. Mandates Fund assistance for geographically diverse groups of applicants from urban, rural, and Native American communities. Makes exceptions to the non-Federal matching funds requirements in the case of an applicant with severe constraints on available sources of matching funds. Provides for a Fund training program to assist the financial services industry to undertake community development activities.

(Sec. 111) Authorizes the Fund to establish an information clearinghouse. Instructs the Fund to require community development financial institutions receiving assistance to compile and maintain specified user profile data. Requires the Fund to study and report to the President and the Congress on lending and investment practices on Indian reservations and other lands held in Federal trust. Authorizes the Fund to provide capitalization assistance to enhance the liquidity of community development financial institutions.

(Sec. 116) Amends the Federal Credit Union Act to authorize the National Credit Union Administration Board (NCUAB) to invest idle moneys from the Community Development Credit Union Revolving Loan Fund into Treasury securities, and to use the interest earned for technical assistance to community development credit unions.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1994 through 1997.

Subtitle B: Home Ownership and Equity Protection - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to set forth disclosure requirements for high cost mortgages which meet specified criteria with respect to the annual percentage rate and points and fees which exceed certain limits.

Defines a high cost mortgage as a consumer credit transaction secured by the consumer's principal dwelling, other than a residential mortgage transaction, a reverse mortgage transaction, or a transaction under an open end credit plan.

(Sec. 151) Prohibits the terms of such mortgages from requiring: (1) prepayment penalties; (2) certain refinancing charges payable to the same creditor; (3) balloon payments; (4) negative amortization; and (5) certain consolidated prepaid payments.

(Sec. 152) Imposes a civil penalty for violations of this Act.

(Sec. 153) Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require a creditor to disclose conspicuously to a consumer specified lending data on reverse mortgage transactions.

Title II: Small Business Capital Formation - Subtitle A: Small Business Loan Securitization - Small Business Loan Securitization and Secondary Market Enhancement Act of 1994 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define a "small business related security" (SBRS) as generally a high rated security that represents or is secured by an interest in promissory notes or leases of personal property evidencing the obligation of a small business concern. Applies to SBRS subject to Federal Reserve Board terms and conditions specified exemptions from margin requirements and credit prohibitions currently applicable to mortgage related securities.

(Sec. 206) Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act, the Federal Credit Union Act, and related statutes to allow banks, credit unions, and other depository institutions to invest in SBRSs.

(Sec. 207) Amends the Secondary Mortgage Market Enhancement Act of 1984 to: (1) authorize any U.S. person or entity to invest in SBRSs to the same extent such person is authorized to invest in U.S. obligations; and (2) exempt SBRSs from any State law's security registration and qualification requirements to the same extent that U.S. securities are so exempt. Provides for enactment by States of specific requirements for SBRSs, overriding the preemptions of this title.

(Sec. 208) Requires the accounting principles applicable to the transfer of a small business loan or lease of personal property with recourse contained in reports or statements required by appropriate Federal banking agencies to be consistent with generally accepted accounting principles. Requires the amount of capital required to be maintained by a depository institution with respect to the sale of a small business loan with recourse to equal an amount sufficient to meet the institution's reasonable estimated liability under the recourse arrangement. Sets forth capital and reserve requirements for the transfer by qualified insured depository institutions of small business loans with recourse.

(Sec. 209) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to exempt transactions involving SBRSs from certain restrictions and taxes imposed on "prohibited transactions" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (thereby allowing pension fund managers to participate in the pooling and packaging of small business loans for sale as securities).

(Sec. 210) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the taxation of a small business loan investment conduit and the holder of an interest therein should be similar to the taxation of a real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) and the holder of an interest therein under the Internal Revenue Code.

Subtitle B: Small Business Capital Enhancement - Establishes the Small Business Capital Enhancement Program to enhance the availability of financing for small business concerns. Authorizes any State to apply to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for approval as a participating State eligible for reimbursement. Sets forth application approval criteria.

(Sec. 253) Provides that a non-participating State that has its own capital access program providing portfolio insurance for business loans (based on a separate loss reserve fund for each financial institution) may apply to be approved as a participating State.

Specifies that: (1) if a State is approved, each financial institution with a particular agreement in effect with the State shall immediately be considered a participating financial institution; and (2) a State with an existing program that is approved may continue to implement the program utilizing the reserve funds accumulated under the State program.

(Sec. 254) Establishes requirements for participation agreements.

(Sec. 257) Provides for reimbursement by the Secretary of participating States, based on specified formulas. Requires a participating State that withdraws funds from a reserve fund pursuant to terms of the participation agreement to reimburse the Secretary according to a specified formula.

(Sec. 260) Authorizes appropriations.

Title III: Paperwork Reduction and Regulatory Improvement - Prescribes guidelines under which the Federal banking regulatory agencies must: (1) implement specified measures to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens upon banks; (2) streamline and make uniform various regulatory requirements; (3) eliminate duplicative filings; (4) conduct coordinated and unified regulatory examinations; (5) raise the asset threshold for certain small banking institutions that qualify for an 18-month regulatory examination cycle; (6) simplify and make electronically available the call report filing and disclosure system; and (7) establish an independent intra-agency appellate process. Repeals certain publication requirements.

(Sec. 310) Amends the Bank Secrecy Act to permit electronic filing of mandatory currency transaction reports.

(Sec. 311) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to publish all rulings related to reporting for money laundering enforcement, and to issue annual staff commentaries pertaining to them.

(Sec. 312) Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to exempt from its purview certain business and governmental credit transactions.

(Sec. 314) Modifies the Federal audit requirements for certain insured institutions whose holding companies provide comparable auditing functions.

(Sec. 315) Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to direct the Appraisal Subcommittee to encourage the States to develop reciprocity agreements allowing certified appraisers to perform appraisals in sister States.

(Sec. 316) Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to accelerate the effective date for interaffiliate transactions by well-capitalized savings associations.

(Sec. 317) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to permit agreements made by a Federal, State, or local governmental entity for the collateralization of deposits even though the agreement was not executed contemporaneously with the acquisition of the collateral or with any changes in the collateral made in accordance with such an agreement.

(Sec. 318) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to repeal the requirement that the Federal banking regulatory agencies prescribe specified standards for all insured depository institutions and depository institution holding companies with respect to asset quality, earnings, and stock valuation.

(Sec. 319) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to set forth expedited procedures for forming a bank holding company.

(Sec. 320) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 to exempt certain holding company formations from its registration requirements.

(Sec. 321) Amends Federal law to reduce the post-approval waiting period for: (1) bank holding company acquisitions; and (2) bank mergers.

(Sec. 323) Amends Federal banking law and the Home Owners' Loan Act to authorize national banks and Federal savings associations to purchase shares in a bankers' bank in cases where some of the other investors are depository institution holding companies.

(Sec. 325) Amends the FDIA to: (1) require the Attorney General to notify banking regulatory agencies of proposed mergers raising significant competitiveness issues; and (2) allow the FDIC to waive in advance the right to subsequently repudiate an insured depository institution's sale of its credit card accounts receivable.

(Sec. 327) Amends the Federal Reserve Act and the FDIA to limit the liability of member banks for deposits made at foreign branches in specified cases of political upheaval.

(Sec. 329) Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) to cite circumstances under which the mandatory disclosures of the Truth in Lending Act may be substituted for those required under RESPA.

(Sec. 330) Requires reports to the Congress on: (1) the impact of risk-capital standards upon the safety and soundness of insured depository institutions and the availability of credit; (2) the monetary and budgetary impacts of the payment of interest upon certain sterile reserves held by insured depository institutions; and (3) streamlined home mortgage, small business, and consumer lending procedures.

(Sec. 335) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue one-dollar silver coins emblematic of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games.

Mandates that the surcharges collected from the sale of such coins be paid to the 1995 Special Olympics World Games Organizing Committee, Inc.

(Sec. 336) Amends the Truth in Savings Act to modify the definition of account to mean one offered by a depository institution and intended for and generally used by consumers primarily for personal, family or household purposes (thus excluding business accounts from the Act's strictures).

(Sec. 337) Amends the Expedited Funds Availability Act to cite circumstances under which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) may extend the availability of funds deposited by local checks from one business day to two business days.

(Sec. 339) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to authorize the Board to suspend the applicability of the Act's insider lending structures if it finds that an individual does not actually participate in major policy making functions of the member bank.

(Sec. 341) Amends the Truth in Lending Act to prescribe alternative disclosure guidelines for radio broadcast advertisements for consumer leases, including a toll-free telephone number.

(Sec. 343) Amends the Depository Institution Management Interlocks Act to extend from 15 to 20 years the period during which certain management officials may continue dual service with unaffiliated institutions or holding companies.

(Sec. 345) Requires the Federal banking agencies and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to report to the Congress on a jointly conducted survey of financial services available to consumers under certain Federal banking laws intended to provide consumer protection.

(Sec 346) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to state that any depository institution which lacks Federal deposit insurance shall receive deposits from certain new and current depositors only if: (1) the institution has disclosed its non-insured status to them; and (2) the depositors have signed written acknowledgements of such disclosures.

(Sec. 347) Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to modify the definition of mortgage related security to include a promissory note directly secured by a first lien on a parcel of real estate upon which is located one or more commercial structures.

Amends Federal banking law to prescribe circumstances under which a State may enact legislation that is more restrictive of transactions in such mortgage related securities by certain entities.

(Sec. 348) Amends the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 to revise provisions regarding the management and disposition of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - held multifamily properties and mortgages.

Sets forth general contract requirements for unsubsidized projects, and provides for the sale of mortgages held on such projects. Provides for annual contribution contracts with public housing agencies for (section 8) tenant-based assistance to all eligible low-income families in multifamily housing projects acquired by a purchaser other than the Secretary at foreclosure or after sale by the Secretary.

Requires the Secretary to provide section 8 assistance to any very low-income tenant currently residing in a unit otherwise required to receive project-based rental assistance.

Authorizes the Secretary to provide: (1) short-term loans to facilitate the sale of multifamily housing projects to nonprofit organizations or public agencies, subject to specified conditions; and (2) tenant-based assistance to very low-income families that do not otherwise qualify for project-based rental assistance.

Directs the Secretary to develop procedures to facilitate, where feasible and appropriate, the sale of multifamily housing projects to existing tenant organizations with demonstrated capacity, or to public or nonprofit entities that represent or are affiliated with such organizations. Amends the Small Business Act to repeal the National Small Business Tree Planting Program.

Title IV: Money Laundering - Money Laundering Suppression Act of 1994 - Amends Federal law to prescribe guidelines for both mandatory and discretionary exemptions from monetary transaction reporting requirements for depository institutions.

(Sec. 402) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to: (1) submit an annual status report to the Congress on the consequent reduction in the overall number of currency transaction reports; (2) streamline currency transaction reports to eliminate certain law enforcement information; and (3) assign a single designee to receive reports of suspicious transactions.

(Sec. 404) Requires each appropriate Federal banking agency to review and enhance: (1) training and examination procedures to improve the identification of money laundering schemes involving depository institutions; and (2) procedures for referring cases to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Requires the Secretary and each appropriate law enforcement agency to provide regularly to each appropriate Federal banking agency information regarding money laundering schemes and activities involving depository institutions in order to enhance the agency's ability to examine for and identify money laundering activity.

(Sec. 405) Includes negotiable instruments drawn on foreign banks within the purview of monetary transactions subject to Federal recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

(Sec.406) Empowers Federal banking agencies to assess civil money penalties.

(Sec. 407) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the States should: (1) establish uniform laws for licensing and regulating businesses which, although not depository institutions, engage in currency transactions; (2) provide sufficient resources for regulatory enforcement; and (3) develop a model statute to implement the regulatory scheme. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on the States' progress towards such model statute.

Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to the Congress on possible Federal funding sources to cover costs incurred by the States in implementing a licensing and enforcement scheme.

(Sec. 408) Sets forth Federal registration requirements for money transmitting businesses. Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations establishing a threshold point for treating an agent of a money transmitting business as a money transmitting business. Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violation of such requirements.

(Sec. 409) Sets forth criminal and civil penalties for structuring domestic and international transactions.

Requires the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on cashiers' checks with respect to: (1) money laundering schemes; and (2) the need for additional recordkeeping requirements.

Title V: Fair Trade in Financial Services - Fair Trade in Financial Services Act of 1994 - Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) to: (1) identify the extent to which a foreign country denies national treatment to U.S. banking and securities organizations; and (2) determine whether such denial has a significant adverse effect upon them.

(Sec. 503) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) publish the determinations of adverse effect in the Federal Register; and (2) subsequently recommend to Federal banking agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they deny or suspend, under specified circumstances, applications filed by entities of such identified countries. Prescribes guidelines for the Secretary to initiate negotiations with foreign countries that deny national treatment for U.S. banking and securities organizations.

(Sec. 504) Directs the President to: (1) identify the extent to which foreign countries deny national treatment to U.S. insurers or reinsurers; (2) determine whether such denial has a significant adverse effect upon them; and (3) inform State insurance commissioners if he has published his determination in the Federal Register.

Authorizes the President to recommend to State insurance commissioners that they deny a foreign insurer's request to conduct insurance transactions in this country. Prescribes guidelines for the President to initiate negotiations with foreign countries that deny national treatment for U.S. insurers and reinsurers.

(Sec. 505) Amends the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to direct the Secretary to investigate and report to the President and the Congress on: (1) the extent of the interdependence of U.S. financial services sectors and certain foreign countries; and (2) the economic and strategic consequences of that interdependence for the United States.

(Sec. 506) Directs the Federal Reserve Board to report to congressional banking committees on the application and approval mechanism under the Foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act of 1991 and efforts to define consolidated home country supervision on an international basis.

Title VI: National Flood Insurance Reform - National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 - Subtitle A: Definitions - Defines specified terms under the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968.

Subtitle B: Compliance and Increased Participation - Amends the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 to expand flood insurance purchase requirements for borrowers securing loans through the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and Federal agency mortgage lenders.

(Sec. 622) Requires residential real estate lenders to establish flood insurance premium escrow accounts. Requires Federal lenders and regulated lending institutions (banks, savings and loans, credit unions) to notify borrowers of special flood hazards and of the need to purchase and maintain flood insurance. Requires such entities, after specified notice, to purchase such insurance on behalf of the borrower and charge the borrower for premium costs. Provides for review of special hazards determinations by the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Requires the Director to develop a standard flood hazard determination form for use in connection with loans for residential properties located in an area of special flood hazards and in which flood insurance is available.

(Sec. 625) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the Federal Credit Union Act to require the respective Federal regulatory bodies under such Act to conduct examinations and report to the Congress with respect to compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program. Provides penalties for lenders who fail to require flood insurance, maintain escrow accounts, or provide appropriate borrower notification with respect to the need for flood insurance.

(Sec. 628) Amends the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council Act of 1978 to direct the Financial Examinations Council to coordinate with Federal entities for lending regulation to develop uniform lender standards.

Subtitle C: Ratings and Incentives for Community Floodplain Management Programs - Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to provide for a community rating system and premium rate incentives for community floodplain management. Provides for program funding.

Subtitle D: Mitigation of Flood and Erosion Risks - Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to require the FEMA Director to coordinate all flood and erosion mitigation activities. Provides funding for such activities.

(Sec. 642) Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to require the FEMA Director to develop and implement a State and community flood and erosion mitigation financial assistance program for structures insured under such Act. Requires such activities to be technically feasible and cost-effective. Provides assistance limitations. Repeals (with a transition period) the current program for the purchase of certain insured properties, as well as the current program for the demolition or relocation of threatened structures.

Subtitle E: Flood Insurance Task Force - Establishes a two-year interagency Flood Insurance Task Force to: (1) develop standardized flood insurance enforcement procedures; (2) study Federal agency and secondary mortgage market assistance with respect to such enforcement; and (3) study the possibility of existing Federal and corporate flood insurance programs as models for new programs.

Subtitle F: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to: (1) increase maximum flood insurance coverage amounts for nonresidential, single family, and multifamily structures; (2) allow additional coverage for compliance with land use and control measures; and (3) require an assessment and revision if necessary) of flood insurance maps (with identification of erosion hazard areas) at least every five years. Establishes the Technical Mapping Advisory Council to undertake certain activities with respect to the preparation, dissemination, and use of flood insurance rate maps. Provides additional funding for the preparation of such maps.

(Sec. 669) Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to maintain the National Flood Insurance Fund as a separate account.

(Sec. 670) Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to declare that its insurance requirement may not be waived for recipients of Federal disaster assistance.

Amends the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to: (1) require the FEMA Director to establish a ten-day waiting period during which flood insurance coverage shall be unavailable with respect to any claim for damage incurred during such period; (2) provide for the repair and restoration to pre-damaged conditions of certain agricultural structures; and (3) require the FEMA Director to include in his or her biennial report the effects of the implementation of this Act upon the national flood insurance program.

(Sec. 675) Prohibits granting Federal disaster relief assistance to certain persons obligated to obtain flood insurance but who failed to do so.

Title VII: General Provisions - Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to study and report to certain congressional committees on the impact upon small business concerns in the forest products industry resulting from the designation of the Northern Spotted Owl as a threatened species.

(Sec. 702) Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require consumer reporting agencies to disclose, upon consumer request, the dates, original payees, and amounts of any checks upon which is based any negative information about the consumer.

(Sec. 703) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Administration should be commended for its efforts to oppose attempts in the United Nations to refer to Jerusalem as "occupied" territory; and (2) that the United States should exercise its veto in the United Nations Security Council on any resolution that states or implies that Jerusalem is "occupied" territory.

(Sec. 704) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to declare that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee may each act in its own name or that of its own attorneys in enforcing any law, or in any legal proceeding to which either one is a party.

(Sec. 705) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the Majority Leader and the Republican leader should meet to determine the timetable, procedures, and forum for hearings on all matters related to Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association, Whitewater Development Corporation and Capital Management Services Inc.; (2) no immunity shall be granted over the objection of Special Counsel Robert B. Fiske, Jr., to witnesses called to testify at such hearings; and (3) the hearings should be structured and sequenced in a manner that in the judgment of the leaders they would not interfere with the ongoing investigation of such Special Counsel.

(Sec. 706) Expresses the sense of the Senate that no insurer shall enter into a transfer agreement, or transfer a contract of insurance, unless the transferring insurer has first provided to each affected policyholder a notice of intent to transfer. Cites notice requirements.