MINNEAPOLIS -

In an effort to mitigate risk, regulatory experts from Wolters Kluwer Financial Services identified a list of top compliance issues facing U.S. financial institutions in 2015.

The company’s experts indicated that heightened regulatory scrutiny, together with the enactment of major new regulations and pending rule changes, will represent significant challenges of varying impact for financial institutions from an operational, procedural, governance, staffing and technology standpoint.

Officials began by noting fair and responsible lending regulatory efforts will increase.

Since 2011, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services noted federal regulatory agencies have successfully prosecuted a number of cases involving discriminatory lending practices, leading to more than $1 billion in monetary relief for individual borrowers and impacted communities.

“Lenders will need to enhance their ability to conduct effective risk assessments that promote fair and responsible lending concepts, maintain effective governance, and employ technologies that enhance their compliance management systems while building a fair and responsible lending culture,” officials said.

Next, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services indicated heightened regulatory scrutiny around bank examinations will continue, with even greater attention on the role a bank’s board of directors plays in overseeing compliance.

“Increasingly, examiners are monitoring to ensure that boards are fully involved not only in the establishment but in the oversight of an organization’s compliance programs,” officials said.

The other two compliance concerns Wolters Kluwer Financial Services focused away from possible connections to the auto finance segment, including the Truth-in-Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosure requirements that take effect Aug. 1 as well as the probability that new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection requirements will be issued.

“We continue to encourage banks to build a thoughtful and comprehensive compliance strategy for 2015,” said Edward Kramer, executive vice president of regulatory affairs for Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

“The old mantra of ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ is more relevant today than ever, as non-compliance increasingly is leading to severe monetary consequences that range from fines and penalties to harsh reputational and regulatory consequences,” Kramer continued.