I. INTRODUCTION
There are countless books available for bankers to use as resources to assist in the compliance efforts of the bank. Some compliance materials may be obtained free of charge while others are very expensive. The questions that are frequently asked are “what materials are available?” and “what should the basic compliance library contain?”
II. TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
Since you are already utilizing the NBA Compliance Handbook, we believe it should serve as a main resource for your bank, particularly with the handbook’s coverage of Nebraska banking laws and regulations. In addition, the Nebraska Bankers Association offers several conferences and webinars on an annual basis addressing compliance issues. All NBA conferences and webinars are held with accompanying handouts, generally in a bound format. These materials and your notes should also be a part of your compliance library.
Also, the Kansas-Nebraska Schools of Banking, Inc. and the Nebraska Bankers Education Foundation’s AIB programs provide both materials and textbooks for specific courses that have compliance implications which will be of assistance in maintaining a bank compliance program.
The American Bankers Association has many publications available to members that will assist bankers in specific areas of regulation. A noteworthy ABA publication is the ABA Banking Journal. The ABA also has affiliate organizations that publish materials to assist particular compliance concerns.
More specialized trade associations, such as the Consumer Bankers Association, the Bank Administration Institute, and Risk Management Associates to name a few, also have publications available for ordering. For example, RMA issues the RMA Journal ten times a year, which offers practical advice on managing risk across the enterprise.
III. STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATORS
The Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance makes its regulations and statements of policy available to the public upon request.
The federal regulatory agencies also publish individual regulatory services that are made available on a subscription fee basis. It would be advisable that your bank consider subscribing to your primary federal regulator’s regulatory service as a valuable addition to your compliance library. Copies of individual regulations are generally available in booklet form and updated versions of Regulations A through Z would be a worthwhile supplement for ease of reference.
The following are the published titles that you may consider purchasing
OCC
An Examiner’s Guide to Investment Products and Services
Comptroller’s Handbook (individual publications on specific topics, i.e. Compliance, Asset Management, Safety and Soundness)
Bulletins Quarterly Journal
These publications can be obtained from the OCC website at http://www.occ.gov/publications/index-publications.html.
FDIC
This publication can be obtained from the FDIC website at www.fdic.gov.
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Reserve Board Consumer Compliance Handbook
Federal Reserve Regulatory Service (a 4 volume series)
Commercial Bank Examination Manual
The Federal Reserve Board publications described above, in addition to other materials published by the 10th Federal Reserve District, are available from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or www.federalreserve.gov.
FFIEC
Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income
Information Systems Examination Handbook
Contact your primary federal regulatory agency for information on how to obtain a copy of this publication. You can also visit the FFIEC’s website at www.ffiec.gov.
Federal Home Loan Bank Board
For banks that are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Topeka, there are materials available from this district office as well as other district Home Loan Banks, addressing such specific issues as CRA Compliance, e.g., CRA Geocoding Report; Helping Lenders Help Communities.
Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations
Although many banks do not feel the need to subscribe to the entire Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register, these publications may be available at local public libraries, law libraries, and county court law libraries. The subscription cost may be less than some other major regulatory services. The Federal Register is published Monday through Friday, except on federal holidays, and a year’s subscription would fill several bookshelves. The Code of Federal Regulations are published annually and your bank may consider obtaining, at the very minimum, a copy of Title 12 (Banks and Banking).
Subscription information may be obtained by writing the New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954 or calling (202) 512-1800.
Publications are also available on-line through GPO Access, a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office.
You can contact the GPO Contact Center via:
E-mail: ContactCenter@gpo.gov Phone: 1-866-512-1800 (Toll-free) 202-512-1800 (D.C. Area) Fax: 202-512-2104.
In addition, you can locate and order publications through the U.S. Government bookstore at https://www.gpo.gov/about/bookstore.htm.
Finally, you should be aware that the federal regulators issue circulars, financial institution letters, interpretive rulings, and copies of regulations to banks, some of which are on a fee basis and others which are free of charge. You should contact your primary federal regulator for more details on the publications available to your bank.
IV. PRIVATE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
There are a number of private vendors or publishing houses that issue either “treatises” or loose-leaf binders addressing banking laws and regulations. A number of these publications are available for bankers to use in their research at the NBA Library. Sheshunoff Information Services Inc. publishes a multi-volume series (often referred to as the “Silver Books”) entitled High Performance Management System. Although these volumes contain much more information than pure regulatory compliance matters, it is a publication chock full of sample policies, procedures, explanations, sample documents, and management issues. The company also publishes specific materials on specific regulations.
Barkley Clark, a noted professor and lecturer on the Uniform Commercial Code, also writes and edits newsletters which are published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont entitled Clark’s Bank Deposits and Payments Monthly and Clark’s Secured Transactions Monthly.
Commerce Clearing House (CCH) publishes the Federal Banking Law Reports, consisting of five main loose-leaf binder volumes of banking laws, regulations, guidelines and court decisions that are updated on a weekly basis. Several of the consumer compliance laws and regulations are not found in this service. CCH also publishes Bank Compliance Guide which is a single volume loose-leaf binder covering all major consumer compliance laws, regulations and explanations as well as related subjects, such as “right to privacy,” “flood insurance,” “advertising,” “reserve requirements” and “sale of uninsured products.” This service also contains a section on “compliance programs.” Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. issues a Consumer Credit publication (comparable to the CCH service) and a Commercial Law and Practice Guide.
A two-volume loose-leaf binder entitled Compliance Examinations Update for Financial Institutions (Mancuso and Tidwell) is a Warren, Gorham & Lamont, Inc. (WGL) publication. This weekly updated series gives practical examples of compliance problems or changes in law and regulation. Other WGL publications that may assist you in compliance and that are found in the NBA Library are the following:
Law of Bank Deposits, Collections, and Credit Cards
Brady on Bank Checks
Law of Secured Transactions Under the UCC
Truth in Lending Manual
LexisNexis RESPA Manuals
Clark, Boardman, and Callaghan also publish all reported Uniform Commercial Code cases and laws in two separate multi-volume series entitled UCC Case Digest and UCC Reporting Service. The publisher also issues a UCC Bulletin and UCC Law Letter. This publisher also issues a loose-leaf treatise entitle Banking Crimes covering issues of bank fraud, money laundering and embezzlement.
A journal entitled Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report is available from the Oklahoma City University School of Law and is considered one of the premier legal oriented publications in its field.
The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. has a weekly publication entitled Banking Report that covers the legal and Regulatory Developments in the Financial Services Industry. This is an excellent publication covering compliance and related banking topics.
V. CONCLUSION
The NBA also has its own Compliance Library, located in the Lincoln Office, available for use by member banks. Many of the publications described in this article and others not listed may be found in our library. The library is open by appointment, so if there is a desire to visit your association’s library, please call NBA Legal Counsel at (402) 474-1555 for arrangements or for further information on available materials.