The Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting released a statement a day after the comment period closed on the Office Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to modernize regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Otting stated the two U.S. banking regulators will consider the submitted comments in working toward issuing a final rule during the first half of this year and “as the nation has managed its response to COVID-19, it has become even clearer to me that communities need even more access to lending, capital and services during this difficult time.”

Ottings comments come after all 34 democrats on the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to Otting and FDIC Chairman Jelene McWilliams urging them to suspend their CRA rulemaking and other rulemakings that are unrelated to COVID-19.