The U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council announced an update regarding its Examination Modernization Project.  The project initially grew out of the regulatory review process undertaken pursuant to the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act, and is intended to identify potential improvements that can be made in the efficiency and efficacy of the community financial institutions safety and soundness examination processes.  The project has focused primarily on leveraging improved technology to streamline and simplify the examination process for community financial institutions.  As part of the project, the FFIEC has identified four key areas where the supervisory burden can potentially be reduced, including, better communication throughout the examination process, using technology to move examination tasks offsite, tailoring examinations based upon risk and improving electronic file transfer systems. While the FFIEC will first focus on these four areas, the Examination Modernization Project is envisioned as a long-term process, and the FFIEC will continue to identify new parts of the examination process that could benefit from further improvement.  To facilitate improvements in the first key area regarding transparency, the U.S. federal financial regulatory agencies have committed to issue reinforcing and clarifying guidance to examination staff about the importance of being transparent and communicative throughout the examination process.

View full tex of FFIEC press release.