Links in “Banks”

Countrywide's lending program "High Speed Swim Lane," nicknamed "Hustle," emphasized quantity over quality, rewarded employees for producing more loans, and eliminated checkpoints designed to ensure loan quality. Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide in 2008, has been ordered to pay $1.3 billion for those defective loans. A former mid-level Countrywide exec was individually ordered to pay $1 million for her part in the program. [7/31/14]

Does your staff understand that a seemingly casual conversation with a member could potentially lead to a claim of discrimination? The example provided in this article has likely occurred in your credit union.

Distributed denial of service attacks are getting bigger, more sophisticated and harder to detect according to leading technology providers. Many attackers are now using “amplification” techniques that attack multiple servers with a communication that appears to come from a victim’s IP address and the response back is often thousands of times larger than the original message, causing huge disruptions. [7/30/14]

A recent survey of 286 small business owners reveals that many small business owners don’t apply for business loans because they don’t believe that credit is available for them. However, the findings show that a majority of small business owners are afraid of taking on debt and use other avenues for financing needs, such as personal savings and personal loans from family members. [7/30/14]

What Rome Financial did to servicemembers that put it in hot water (to the tune of $92 million), ranged from masking 100% APR loans as 16% APR loans to billing statements that didn't include required information such as the APR, closing date of the billing cycle, and account balance on the closing date. [7/30/14]

While the ABA would like the CFPB to clarify issues in the new mortgage servicing rules, such as how to apply the 120-day rule in rolling delinquencies situations, it also asks the CFPB to make sure that whatever clarifications it produces don't undo the major system modifications already underway. [7/30/14]

Bankers are reporting that the statutes and regulations no longer tell the whole story. They're having to look into the most recent enforcement action against their peers, and then try to plug those holes, as described in this aptly named post, "We Won't Tell What To Do Until After We Punish You For Not Doing It." [7/30/14]

What do Batman and your compliance officer have in common? Well, quite a lot, according to AffirmX's Dennis Agle. He explains how outsourced compliance solutions enhance, not replace, your compliance officer. [7/29/14]

Thought your home banking site was secure because you use two-factor authentication? Think again. 34 financial institutions in four different countries have had their systems compromised by a new threat dubbed “Emmenta.”  No US institutions have yet been the subject of a similar attack, but given the fact that the countries involved used a more sophisticated authentication process than is generally used here, it may just be a matter of time. [7/29/14]

Two earlier cases were settled before the U.S. Supreme Court could rule on disparate impact, the controversial finding that lending practices that are on their face neutral could still be considered discriminatory if they have an adverse impact on members of a protected class. However, a third case from Texas appears to be headed toward the Supreme Court and could be addressed as soon as September. [7/29/14]