The financial burden was exacerbated by 176 first-quarter enforcement actions issued with an average number of seven items per action, which drove a 30% increase over the number of EAs in fourth-quarter 2014, Perdue said. By Continuity's estimates, 10.82% of community banks and credit unions were subject to enforcement actions during the first quarter.

Despite a slight downturn in the number of pages when compared to the previous quarter, due largely to the absence of a single 1,900-page document that dominated fourth quarter concerns, Continuity's BCI still runs high when compared to years prior to the financial recession.

"This level of regulatory scrutiny is the new normal," Perdue said. "Don't expect to see a return to the pre-crisis enforcement levels."

Enforcement actions concentrated mostly on concerns with the Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering law and safety and soundness issues. In the case of credit unions, many enforcement actions were the result of a lack of timely call report filings with NCUA, Perdue said.

"The heat of the enforcement climate will affect the attention and time you have to devote to it inside your community bank or credit union," Perdue told webinar participants. "If you are the subject of one of these enforcement actions, you know you will have a lot of work to do."

In terms of specific rules, none were issued during the first quarter that referred to the Community Reinvestment Act, trust concerns or information technology issues. Several regulations focused on obscure issues, including provisions against doing business with the Banca Privada D'Andorra, a Spanish bank suspected of money laundering activities, and a review of the Office of Foreign Assets Control's 2010 Sudanese Sanctions Regulations.

Read more: New guidelines were issued as part of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations…

New guidelines were issued as part of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, easing business restrictions on travel and business activities with Cuba, permitting the issuance of credit and debit cards within Cuba, and removing limits on remittance amounts. Two new regulations were issued involving the CFPB's proposal on mortgages, including one on integrated mortgage disclosure and loan originator rules and changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's qualified mortgage points and fees limits. The later rule did little more than complicate what otherwise was a straightforward issue, Perdue said.

"Staff here jokes that you now need a decoder ring to figure this out," Perdue quipped. "It's no longer a couple of numbers you can remember off the top of your head."

The CFPB also issued an information request in connection with its review of the consumer credit card market, which the CARD Act mandates that the agency do every two years. Comments are due by May 18.

Among the credit union regulations, Perdue referenced NCUA's proposal to restructure risk-based capital requirements to include all credit unions with $100 million or more in assets.

"NCUA has spent a lot of time noodling on last year's proposal to revise its capitalization rule," Perdue said. "We suggest you revisit the 2014 proposal to see how it's going to affect you."

Perdue also commented on NCUA's proposed changes to the fixed asset investment rule for federal credit unions. The agency is proposing to eliminate the 5% aggregate limit on fixed asset investments, to create a single six-year timeframe for partial occupancy, and to simplify the waiver application process if partial occupancy will not be achieved within six years.

"If you're a federal credit union, take a peak to see if you have fixed assets that fall into this category," Perdue said. "You have the opportunity to comment up through April 29."

The NCUA issued NCUA Regulation Development Procedures, which proposed to increase the asset size threshold from $50 million to $100 million for small entities affected by the regulatory impact analysis per the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Comments on the procedures are due May 4.

The NCUA also issued Supervisory Letter 15-CU-01 during the first quarter to assist credit unions with preparing for 2015 NCUA examinations, with a supervisory focus on cybersecurity, interest rate risk, BSA, liquidity and contingency funding plans, the TILA/RESPA Integrated Mortgage Disclosure Rule, the Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Standards Rule, and lending programs. The agency will be streamlining examinations for some small credit unions with "defined-scope examinations," Perdue added.

The webinar also discussed interagency guidance reminding financial institutions to apply safe and sound lending practices when making private student loans, and issuing guidance in the form of an FAQ document about establishing youth savings programs that increase the financial capabilities of young people.

"If you do nothing else other than align your internal priorities with [regulator] priorities, you should be in good shape," Perdue said.