Annual Report 2012 - ffiec

FFIEC Chairman Debbie Matz
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
I am honored to have served as the
Chairman of the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council
for the past two years. Over
this time, the Council emphasized
cooperative and collaborative
approaches to promote uniformity
in the supervision of financial institutions
as appropriate. We made
progress in providing the financial
industry necessary guidance, raising
the visibility of the Appraisal
Subcommittee in light of its new
statutory responsibilities, and
increasing state-of-the-art training
to examiners.
The Council, through our task
forces, released significant guidance
communications highlighting
risk areas, including Interest
Rate Risk and Outsourced Cloud
Computing. Our follow-up to the
January 2010 Interest Rate Risk
Management Advisory provided
additional guidance regarding
risk mitigation expectations and
practices. Our Statement on Outsourced
Cloud Computing highlighted
key risk considerations,
particularly the importance of due
diligence when implementing this
technology service model. Our proposed
Social Media Guidance discussed
consumer protection and
compliance laws and their applicability
to activities conducted
through social media. These Council
issuances support our mission
of promoting consistent supervision
of financial institutions.
With renewed focus and additional
responsibilities assigned to
the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC)
by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection
Act, the member-agency principals
designated higher-level, senior
staff members to serve on the ASC
Board. With the ASC Board’s highlevel
strategic guidance, the ASC
made progress in developing a
phased approach to implement the
appraisal complaint hotline and
website and drafting updated proposed
policy statements. Efforts
continue to finalize preparations
for the appraisal complaint hotline
opening in March 2013.
The Council provided 95 sessions
of courses and conferences
through the Task Force on Examiner
Education and the FFIEC
Examiner Education Office.
Almost 3,500 federal regulatory
and state supervisory agency
staff received superior training on
many industry-specific topics. A
specialized FFIEC course focusing
on significant consumer compliance
issues was developed in 2012,
and two Consumer Compliance
Specialists Conferences are scheduled
in 2013.
The Council continues to fulfill our
mission of promoting uniformity
of supervision, where feasible,
throughout the financial industry.
In addition, through guidance and
staff training, we identified emerging
risks providing institutions the
opportunity to avoid or mitigate
their adverse consequences.
I appreciate the opportunity to
have led this distinguished Council
and look forward to continue
working with my colleagues to
advance future FFIEC initiatives.
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