In an issuance dated February 20, 2019, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Farm Credit Administration, and the National Credit Union Administration have amended their regulations concerning private flood insurance provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act). The amendment, which will take effect July 1, 2019, requires regulated lending institutions to accept “private flood insurance” as defined under the Biggert-Waters Act. Additionally, a streamlined compliance aid has been provided to aid lending institutions in evaluating approved “private flood insurance” policies, however, the regulatory agencies removed some of the evaluation criteria to provide lending institutions more discretion when evaluating these policies. Specifically, “[The] compliance aid allows a regulated lending institution to conclude that a policy meets the definition of “private flood insurance” without further review of the policy if the policy, or an endorsement to the policy, states: “This policy meets the definition of private flood insurance contained in 42 U.S.C. 4012a(b)(7) and the corresponding regulation.”” For further details regarding the amendment to the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, visit the link below.
