On March 21, 2024, - just 10 days before the April 1 applicability date - the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC issued a supplemental rulemaking that includes a joint interim final rule which extends the applicability date of certain provisions in their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule issued in October 2023. The agencies' notice also serves to issue a correction to the preamble to the 2023 CRA Final Rule regarding the OCC’s Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) regulatory analysis.
The agencies’ supplemental rulemaking includes two parts. First, the agencies issued an interim final rule to extend the applicability date of the facility-based assessment areas provision and the public file provision in the 2023 CRA Final Rule from April 1, 2024, to January 1, 2026. This means that banks will not have to make changes to their assessment areas or their public files as a result of the 2023 CRA final rule until January 1, 2026. The agencies also requested comments on these changes. Second, the agencies issued a final rule that makes technical amendments to those amendments adopted in the 2023 CRA Final Rule and related regulations. The agencies clarified that technical amendments do not change the substance or meaning of the 2023 CRA Final Rule.
In addition, the agencies made technical amendments to their regulations implementing the CRA sunshine requirements of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the OCC made technical amendments to its community and economic development entities, community development projects, and other public welfare investments regulation to update cross-references to their CRA regulations to conform with changes made by the 2023 CRA Final Rule.
Read the agencies’ joint press release here.
The Federal Register Notice can be found here.
