As part of an ongoing effort to review parts of their safety and soundness exam process, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council today issued an update on its progress thus far. After surveying current processes and seeking feedback from several supervised institutions and examiners, FFIEC members said they will initially focus their efforts on four specific areas that they found to have a high potential for meaningfully reducing regulatory burden.
These focus areas include highlighting and reinforcing regulator communication objectives at all stages of the exam process; better employing technology to shift exam work from onsite to offsite; tailoring examinations based on the risk profile of an institution; and improving electronic file transfer systems to facilitate the exchange of information between examiners and supervised institutions. The agencies noted that other focus areas may emerge as the modernization process moves forward.
The American Bankers Association has been engaged throughout the exam modernization effort, facilitating calls between community bankers and the FFIEC regulatory staff to discuss ways to improve the exam process, streamline exam reports and make the Uniform Bank Performance Report more accessible and informative. The association will continue to engage with regulators and provide feedback on how to reduce the exam burden for banks. For more information, contact ABA’s Barry Mills, Rick Freer or Shaun Kern.
