FAIR Exams Act

The FAIR Exams Act (FAIR Exams Act) would significantly change how federal regulators examine depository institutions (such as banks and insured credit unions) by imposing new timeliness rules, creating an independent review office, and establishing a formal right to an independent review of material supervisory determinations. Key elements require examinations to be completed within 270 days (with possible extensions), and final examination reports to be issued within 90 days after the exit interview or submission of additional information. It also creates an Office of Independent Examination Review to oversee examination quality and consistency, and it provides an option for institutions to obtain an independent, de novo review of material supervisory determinations in final examination reports, with the Board issuing determinations or conducting hearings. The bill also sets processes for timely responses to requests for permission or guidance and requires public summaries of determinations (with redactions for sensitive information). The act would expand the FFIEC framework to include the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in these sections and introduces additional protections against retaliation for institutions exercising these new review rights. In short, the bill aims to tighten and clarify examination timelines, add a formal, independent mechanism to audit and review examination practices and supervisory determinations, and provide banks and credit unions with faster guidance and a right to challenge certain supervisory decisions, all while preserving confidentiality and safety-and-soundness considerations.