Community Banking Connections is a quarterly publication dedicated to addressing issues that community banks currently face; providing resources on key supervisory guidance; highlighting new regulations; and offering perspectives from bank examiners and other Federal Reserve staff.

This edition of S&R Perspectives covers the importance of strong risk management; supervisory upgrades and enforcement actions; assessing the stability of deposits in a rising rate environment; the BSA Coalition's Fourth Annual Anti-Money Laundering Conference; the Dodd-Frank Act's impact on SRC; and more.

Two years after the Dodd-Frank Act was signed, the law has resulted in new responsibilities for the Richmond Fed’s Supervision, Regulation and Credit (SRC) department. In this article, we take a look at how the legislation aimed at blunting the impact of future financial stresses has affected some of the work across SRC, as well as what’s ahead.

This edition of S&R Perspectives covers the effects of the Dodd-Frank Act on community banks, disposition of OREO property, Regulation W, our recent Community Banker Forums in West Virginia and Maryland, our Healthy Bank Project, and more. 

This edition of S&R Perspectives covers the CEO Community Banker Forums held in Richmond and Charlotte in November, stress testing, the Bank Secrecy Act, savings and loan holding companies, student loans, and issues tracking.

This edition of S&R Perspectives highlights Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL), capital planning, vendor management, and the state of Fifth District banks versus the nation.

Read about the changes in Tier 1 capital definitions resulting from Dodd-Frank, the causes and consequences of residential foreclosure problems and more in this edition of S&R Perspectives.

Read about changes to discount window practices, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the debt crisis in Greece.

On July 21, 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law No. 111-203) was signed into law. Among the provisions of the Act is a new requirement that the Federal Reserve disclose certain information regarding discount window borrowings.

This edition features an update on troubled debt restructurings, information on the discount window, an excerpt from an outreach event on the financing needs of small businesses and a story about how the federal government prosecuted a case on terrorism funding.

This edition features mobile banking trends, information on Regulation Z, FASB's financial instruments project and a review of the recently released interagency statement on meeting the needs of creditworthy small business borrowers.

This edition features trends from material loss reviews and an in-depth review of assessing structured investments in the current economic environment.

Read the latest Consumer Compliance Outlook, which is a Federal Reserve System publication dedicated to consumer compliance issues.  Featured in this edition is an overview of the E-Sign Act's consumer compliance requirements as well as tips on how to improve and use HMDA Data in a Compliance Program.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has become aware of e-mails appearing to be sent from the FDIC that are asking recipients to download and open a "personal FDIC insurance file" to check their deposit insurance coverage. These e-mails are fraudulent and were not sent by the FDIC. The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the e-mails and disrupt the transmission.

Read the latest Consumer Compliance Outlook, which is a Federal Reserve System publication dedicated to consumer compliance issues. This edition provides some insights about a bank director's role in fostering an effective compliance culture as well as a closer look into the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act of 2008.

Read about the latest trends in the financial industry in the fourth issue of S&R Perspectives. This edition also reports on emerging risks in portable device security and recent efforts and tools to fight fraud.

Read the latest Consumer Compliance Outlook, which is a Federal Reserve System publication dedicated to consumer compliance issues. This issue features an interview with Sandra Braunstein, Director, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

This edition highlights information on a revision from FASB on fair value accounting guidance and limitations on interbank liabilities as well as other emerging issues.

Read more about the risk-based capital treatment for direct credit substitutes in this article.

Featured in the Spring edition of S&R Perspectives is a new section which highlights emerging trends and issues from the examination process.

The Fraud Awareness section has been updated to add information about Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue scams that was released by the Federal Reserve Board.

The BSA Coalition, a group of Fifth District bankers and regulators, has launched an independent Web site to encourage discussion about issues related to the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering efforts. The Richmond Fed serves as an advisor to the group.

The Fraud Awareness section has been updated to provide information about "smishing," a scheme that uses text messages to seek bank account information.

Read about the initiatives undertaken to address the financial crisis in the first issue of S&R Perspectives. The electronic newsletter also reports on risk management, a program for minority and de novo banks and efforts to fight fraud.

The Fraud Awareness section of the Richmond Fed Web site has been updated with information about a type of fraud that has emerged recently: mortgage foreclosure rescue scams.

The Richmond Fed's Banking Supervision & Regulation department is introducing a new newsletter in December.

WARNING: We have noticed increased fraudulent wire transfer activity throughout the Fifth District.

The Federal Reserve System has been asked by the FBI to forward to its supervised institutions the following emergency supervisory message pertaining to an actual or potential critical situation affecting the banking industry. The Federal Reserve has no additional information regarding this situation.

The federal banking and thrift regulatory agencies encourage all eligible institutions to use the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

The federal banking and thrift regulatory agencies announced today that they will allow banks, bank holding companies, and thrifts (collectively, "banking organizations") to recognize the effect of the tax change enacted in Section 301 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) in their third quarter 2008 regulatory capital calculations.

Beginning today, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will hold the first in a series of conference calls with the banking industry to answer technical questions regarding the newly announced Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.