The OCC invites interested members of the public, including financial industry participants, other government agencies, academic and research organizations, consumer advocacy and financial education organizations, trade associations, and financial services customers, to comment on the scope of the survey, components and drivers of trust, and ways to track and assess trust over time. Responding to the survey is voluntary.

The analysis looked at a random sample of 1,000 text messages reported to the FTC, finding that fake bank security messages, often supposedly from large banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, were the most common type. These texts are designed to create a sense of urgency, often by asking people to verify a large transaction they did not make. Those who respond are connected to a fake bank representative. Reports of texts impersonating banks have increased nearly twentyfold since 2019.

Five federal regulatory agencies today requested public comment on proposed guidance addressing reconsiderations of value (ROV) for residential real estate transactions. The proposed guidance advises on policies that financial institutions may implement to allow consumers to provide financial institutions with information that may not have been considered during an appraisal or if deficiencies are identified in the original appraisal. ROVs are requests from a financial institution to an appraiser or other preparer of a valuation report to reassess the value of residential real estate. An ROV may be warranted if a consumer provides information to a financial institution about potential deficiencies or other information that may affect the estimated value.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rules to prevent fraud, manipulation, and deception in connection with security-based swap transactions and to prevent undue influence over the chief compliance officer (CCO) of security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants (SBS Entities).

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rule changes to remove and replace references to credit ratings from existing exceptions provided in Rule 101 and Rule 102 of Regulation M, a set of rules that prohibits activities that could artificially influence the market for an offered security.

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments and suggestions on ways it can work more effectively with state attorneys general nationwide to help educate consumers about, and protect them from, potential fraud. The request for public information (RFI) announced today comes at the direction of the FTC Collaboration Act of 2021, which President Biden signed into law last October.

The final guidance describes principles and considerations for banking organizations’ risk management of third-party relationships. The final guidance covers risk management practices for the stages in the life cycle of third-party relationships: planning, due diligence and third-party selection, contract negotiation, ongoing monitoring, and termination.

These actions being announced today will prevent algorithmic bias in home valuation, empower consumers to take action against appraisal bias, break down barriers to entry into the appraisal profession, and increase transparency and leverage federal data to inform policy, aid enforcement, and facilitate research on appraisal bias. Details of the actions can be found here.

Six federal regulatory agencies today requested public comment on a proposed rule designed to ensure the credibility and integrity of models used in real estate valuations. In particular, the proposed rule would implement quality control standards for automated valuation models (AVMs) used by mortgage originators and secondary market issuers in valuing real estate collateral securing mortgage loans.

Today, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) posted for feedback a proposal for a new home retention option to help struggling homeowners meet their mortgage obligations. The new option, called the Payment Supplement Partial Claim, would allow mortgage servicers to use the FHA Partial Claim both to bring a borrower’s mortgage current and to provide temporary reductions to their monthly mortgage payments for up to five years.