The long awaited CRA proposal was published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2020, meaning that comments on the proposed rule are due on March 9, 2020. This joint proposal between the OCC and FDIC did not include the support of the Federal Reserve, who currently have a slightly different take on how CRA regulations should be revised (according to comments by Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard on January 8, 2020). As we have explained before, this would be the first substantial update to the rules in nearly 25 years if the rule is finalized. According to the release, the proposed rules are intended to do a number of things including:

As is the case each year, the regulatory agencies have adjusted the asset size threshold under the Community Reinvestment Act for 2020. The “small institution” asset threshold has increased from 1.284 billion to 1.305 billion, while the “intermediate small institution” asset threshold has increased from 321 million in 2019 to 326 million in 2020.

On December 12, 2019, the FDIC and OCC announced a long-awaited proposal to modernize the regulations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). If finalized as proposed, this would be the first substantial update to the rules in nearly 25 years. According to the release, the proposed rules are intended to do a number of things including…

On August 28, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) inviting public comment on ways to modernize the regulations that implement the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  In their notice (OCC-2018-0008), the OCC is soliciting ideas on how the CRA rules could better achieve the statute’s original purpose, encourage increased lending and investment where it is needed the most, and reduce the burden associated with reporting and evaluating CRA performance. As the OCC plans to share the results of the ANPR with other regulatory agencies, all financial institutions are encouraged to provide comments to the OCC.

Each month, the FDIC and OCC each release a list of banks that have been evaluated under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  This information is extremely valuable to CRA officers as one of the best ways to understand the CRA requirements for a financial institution is to read the performance evaluations of other financial institutions of the same regulator. This article summarizes some of the key points from these evaluations.

Last week, the OCC and FDIC released their monthly list of CRA ratings from June of 2018.  The following summary provides a few noteworthy highlights from this months ratings. As we have advocated before, one of the best ways for a financial institution to understand their requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is to read the performance evaluations from other financial institutions.

On June 15, 2018, the OCC issued a bulletin (2018-17) on supervisory policy and processes for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluations.  This bulletin was issued to inform national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies (collectively, banks) regulated by the OCC about clarification to the OCC’s supervisory policies and processes regarding how examiners will now evaluate and communicate bank performance under the CRA.  This new guidance is effective immediately, though financial institutions that are currently in the middle of a CRA examination may see the use of transitional procedures.