Financial Institutions Streamlined Regulatory Treatment Act of 1995

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Streamlining Consumer Protection Requirements

Title II: Streamlining Miscellaneous Depository Institution

Requirements

Title III: Lender Liability

Financial Institutions Streamlined Regulatory Treatment Act of 1995 - Title I: Streamlining Consumer Protection Requirements - Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) conduct a joint study and report to the Congress their recommendations for changes in Federal laws relating to the home finance lending process.

(Sec. 102) Requires the Board to study and report to the Congress on classes of transactions, if any, which should be exempt from Truth in Lending Act requirements because such requirements do not confer consumer protections.

(Sec. 103) Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act to eliminate certain disclosure requirements, including the mandate for a model disclosure statement pertaining to the number of loans assigned or transferred by persons making federally related mortgage loans.

(Sec. 104) Amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to permit specified alternative disclosures for variable percentage rates for open end consumer credit plans secured by the consumer's principal dwelling, and for adjustable rate residential mortgage transactions.

(Sec. 105) Amends the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 to prescribe guidelines under which the Board shall make a cost-of-living adjustment every five years to the maximum dollar amount limitation used to determine institutions exempt from the Act's purview.

(Sec. 106) Amends the Truth in Savings Act to exempt certain advertising violations from civil liability.

Requires the Board to report to the Congress on the appropriateness of a certain annual percentage yield disclosure formula.

(Sec. 107) Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) to modify the definition of "accepted card or other means of access" in connection with stored value devices.

(Sec. 108) Amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act to provide that, except in specified circumstances, a creditor that conducts self-testing of its lending operations to measure compliance shall not be required to disclose those results to an enforcing agency under this Act.

(Sec. 109) Amends the TILA to: (1) increase from $25,000 to $50,000 the maximum dollar amount of a contractual obligation of a consumer lease subject to its requirements; and (2) require the Board to make a cost-of-living adjustment to such amount every five years.

Revises consumer lease disclosure requirements to: (1) cover the capitalized cost and residual value of a lease; and (2) instruct the Board to prescribe a format for additional disclosures, including the purchase price where an option to purchase must be exercised at the end of the lease term.

(Sec. 110) Excludes from the determination of finance charge for any consumer credit transaction fees imposed by third party closing agents (including settlement agents, attorneys, escrow and title companies) that are neither expressly required nor retained by the creditor (thereby exempting them from TILA disclosure requirements).

Modifies Includes mortgage broker fees in the determination of finance charge.

Exempts from the required computation of finance charge: (1) certain taxes on security instruments or evidences of indebtedness (if they are otherwise itemized and disclosed); and (2) fees for preparation of loan documents, as well as appraisal fees related to pest infestations, premises and structural inspections, and flood hazards.

Instructs the Board to report to the Congress on statutory or regulatory changes necessary to: (1) ensure that finance charges accurately reflect the cost of credit; and (2) address abusive refinancing practices intended to avoid rescission.

(Sec. 111) Denies the right of rescission to certain refinancings or debt consolidations secured by a lien on a consumer's principal dwelling.

(Sec. 112) Permits finance charge disclosures to vary within specified accuracy tolerance limits for certain consumer credit transactions secured by real property or a dwelling.

Sets disclosure accuracy guidelines for per diem interest rate disclosures on consumer credit transactions.

(Sec. 113) Amends TILA to shield a creditor or assignee from liability in connection with disclosures of: (1) certain fees and charges; and (2) finance charges that fall within certain statutory tolerance limits.

(Sec. 114) Restricts rescission liability arising from the form of written notice used by the creditor.

(Sec. 115) Provides for damages ranging from $250 to $2,500 for an individual consumer credit transaction not under an open end credit plan that is secured by real property or a dwelling.

(Sec. 116) Modifies assignee liability guidelines to: (1) apply them to consumer credit transactions secured by real property; and (2) provide that a violation is apparent on the face of the disclosure statement if the disclosure does not use the format required by law.

States that the servicer of a consumer obligation arising from a consumer credit transaction shall not be treated as an assignee of an obligation unless the servicer owns it.

(Sec. 117) Identifies circumstances under which a consumer has a right to rescind a consumer credit transaction upon a creditor's action to foreclose on the consumer's primary dwelling securing the debt.

Title II: Streamlining Miscellaneous Depository Institution Requirements - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to identify criteria for a well-capitalized and well-managed banking organization under which an acquisition of shares in a nonbanking or another banking organization by a bank holding company, or a merger or consolidation between registered bank holding companies, shall be deemed to be approved. (Current law requires prior Board approval).

(Sec. 203) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to reduce reporting and notification requirements for merger transactions involving: (1) an interim institution organized solely to facilitate a corporate reorganization without a change in control; or (2) an insured depository institution subsidiary of the same depository institution holding company.

(Sec. 204) Repeals the requirement of prior written approval, but still requires approval, by the responsible agency for participation by any insured depository institution in optional conversion transactions between members of the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (Oakar transactions). Repeals guidelines for expedited approval of acquisitions.

(Sec. 205) Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act and the BHCA to require the Board and the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, respectively, to jointly issue regulations for coordinating and unifying requirements for the companies under their purviews, including a coordinated examinations and oversight system, and a unified application requirement applicable to bank holding company acquisitions of savings associations.

(Sec. 206) Amends the BHCA to repeal the provision that shares transferred by a bank holding company to a transferee under its control are deemed to be under such holding company's control unless the Board determines otherwise and approves the divestiture.

(Sec. 207) Amends the Revised Statutes, the Federal Reserve Act (FRA), and the FDIA to delineate conditions under which prior approval is not required for well-capitalized and well-managed banks to establish and operate a branch or seasonal agency.

(Sec. 208) Amends the Revised Statutes and the FDIA to exclude from the definition of "branch" an automated teller machine or remote service unit (thus exempting those entities from approval requirements of such Acts).

(Sec. 209) Amends the FDIA to authorize the appropriate Federal banking agency to waive, on a case-by-case basis, prior notice requirements pertaining to new officer or director appointments of certain undercapitalized or troubled institutions.

(Sec. 210) Amends the Revised Statutes to repeal the aggregate minimum per-branch capital requirements imposed upon a national banking association and its branches.

(Sec. 211) Amends the FDIA to allow the appropriate Federal banking agency to increase from $175 million to $250 million the asset-size ceiling on certain small depository institutions whose mandatory periodic on-site examinations make take place every 18 months instead of annually.

(Sec. 212) Amends specified Federal monetary law to repeal the requirement that depository institutions identify domestic nonbank financial institution customers.

(Sec. 213) Requires the Financial Institutions Examination Council, each Federal banking agency, and the National Credit Union Administration Board to review and identify unnecessary regulations every ten years and report thereon to the Congress.

(Sec. 214) Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to cite circumstances under which the Board may: (1) approve an application of a foreign bank that is not subject to comprehensive supervision on a consolidated basis in its home country; and (2) exempt such a bank from statutory approval criteria.

Requires the Comptroller of the Currency to forward a foreign bank application to the Board, and to consider its recommendations when considering such application.

(Sec. 215) Instructs the Board to rely upon the examination reports of other Federal and State agencies in connection with foreign banks. Subjects each branch or agency of a foreign bank to the same on-site examination schedule as its U.S. counterpart.

(Sec. 216) Amends the Depository Institution Management Interlocks Act to prohibit outside counsel and outside accountants from performing dual service on the board of directors of a depository institution (or affiliate) or a depository holding company (or affiliate) whose total assets exceed $250 million. Exempts specified small institutions.

Mandates: (1) annual ownership disclosures by a depository institution or depository institution holding company to its board of directors; and (2) that a majority of the voting members of the board of directors of each depository institution and depository institution holding company be outside directors.

(Sec. 217) Amends the EFTA to mandate fee disclosures to a consumer at the time that electronic fund transfer services are provided.

(Sec. 218) Amends the FDIA to exclude automated teller machines and bank branches in specified merger or relocation situations from the definition of "bank branch" (thus exempting them from Federal bank closure notification requirements). Makes such exemption retroactive to the enactment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991.

(Sec. 219) Directs the following agencies to submit a joint annual report to the Congress on the extent to which the regulatory reductions under this Act have resulted in increased lending to small businesses: (1) the Federal Reserve Board; (2) the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision; (3) the Comptroller of the Currency; and (4) the FDIC Board of Directors.

Title III: Lender Liability - Amends the FDIA to prescribe guidelines for lender, fiduciary, and Federal banking and lending agency environmental liabilities.