A “secure and efficient” web portal related to anti-redlining and consumer compliance rules was unveiled Tuesday by the federal bank deposit insurance agency, designed to share documents, information and other communications between banks and their examiners, the agency said.
The new “Banker Engagement Site” (BES), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said, is offered through the agency’s “FDICconnect,” a secure electronic portal for conducting business with the agency. BES, the agency added, will be the primary tool for exchanging exam planning and other information related to consumer compliance and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) activities.
Among other things, the agency said, the new system features:
- Ability for bank users to collaborate with the FDIC’s examination team when responding to information and document requests;
- Capability to submit questions and comments to the examination team;
- Facility to view submitted responses and documents;
- Capability to associate responses with specific requests;
Banks may also opt out of using the system and will be provided an alternative method to respond to pre-examination planning requests and to exchange information, the FDIC said.
The new system does not completely replace the existing Enterprise File Exchange (EFX), the agency said. It added that the agency will continue to be used when the pre-planning for consumer compliance and CRA activity initiated prior to the availability of BES and also may be utilized in some additional circumstances.
“The FDIC’s examination management will inform financial institutions, during their initial pre-examination contact, of the application that will be used for their examination during the transition to BES,” FDIC said.
The agency said that BES is designed to support the consumer compliance examination process and is not planned for the use in other FDIC examinations, such as safety and soundness examinations.