Banking Regulators Decide Not to Collect Data on Subprime Lending Programs

WASHINGTON – The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council recently announced that several federal banking agencies have decided not to proceed with a proposal to collect data on subprime consumer lending programs in the quarterly regulatory reports filed by banks and savings associations. Under the Council's auspices, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision proposed, in July 2002, to add a new schedule to the Reports of Condition and Income and the Thrift Financial Report for the reporting of these data. In making the decision, the agencies noted, as had commenters, that the industry lacks standard definitions for the terms "subprime" and "program." Rather than imposing an "additional burden" on institutions through the proposed regulatory reporting requirement, the examination process "through which extensive information is obtained" -should continue to be the focal point of the supervision of the subprime consumer lending activities of banks and savings associations. The council said "this will ensure that the agencies' ongoing oversight and monitoring of these activities are tailored to the specific scope and nature of, and any risk management concerns about, individual institutions' subprime consumer lending programs." The agencies received comments on the proposal from 36 banking organizations, bankers' associations, and community and consumer groups.