On September 28, the Connecticut Department of Banking issued a memo announcing a no action position regarding Section 97 of HB 5490/Public Act 18-173, which amended state law to require sales finance companies to collect and maintain records of the ethnicity, race and sex of applicants and co-applicants for retail installment contracts starting October 1. The Department’s memo states that the Department has formally requested that the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) provide an official interpretation as to whether the state’s requirements are consistent with Regulation B. The memo indicates that the no action position will remain until the Department receives further guidance from the BCFP.

The following article is part of AFSA's Business Partner Webinar Series. You can learn more during Equifax's webinar on Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. ET entitled Verify to Clarify – Know More About Your Customers to Help Grow & Increase your Portfolio Profitability. Registration is open now.

AFSA’s State Government Affairs (SGA) team this week published its White Paper on the 2018 Gubernatorial Elections Preview, examining the races in states that will hold elections.

Paul Watkins, Director of the Office of Innovation at the Bureau for Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP), is the luncheon speaker Oct. 24 at AFSA’s upcoming Annual Meeting.

Join AFSA on Tuesday, October 2 at 2 p.m. ET for Verify to Clarify – Know More About Your Customers to Help Grow & Increase your Portfolio Profitability, presented by Equifax.

The second podcast in AFSA’s recently-launched AFSA Today series is available at afsaonline.org/podcasts.

AFSA staff attended the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s (BCFP) Building a Bridge to Credit Visibility Symposium on Sept. 17, the focus of which was using innovation to build economic opportunity.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) this week posted a blog saying it is emphasizing growing its state and local government relationships, as part of its Strategic Plan and Objectives for this year.

Today’s financial institutions understand the power of artificial intelligence to drive profitability in their businesses. Many lenders employ data science teams who are experimenting with machine learning. But the challenge for many in-house modelers is getting machine learning models into production in a safe and responsible manner, consistent with regulatory requirements.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) and four other federal agencies this week issued a joint statement explaining the role of supervisory guidance for regulated institutions, clarifying that guidance does not have the same effect as law.