Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

Last week, federal bank regulatory agencies jointly issued a proposal to strengthen and modernize regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The proposed rule has the following key elements: Expand access to credit, investment and basic banking services in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Under the proposal, the agencies would evaluate bank performance across the […]

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule to rescind the June 2020 Community Reinvestment Act rule and replace it with a rule based on the rules adopted jointly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The OCC announced it is soliciting comments on proposed rules to rescind the CRA rule issued in 2020 and replace it with rules adopted jointly by the federal banking agencies in 1995, as amended. 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced it will propose rescinding the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued in May 2020. This decision follows the completion of a review initiated by Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu shortly after he took office.

Treasury Secretary Dr. Janet Yellen named Michael Hsu acting comptroller of the Currency under her authority to appoint deputy comptrollers and have the first deputy act as comptroller if there is a vacancy.

NH&RA submitted comments to the Federal Reserve on its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, urging the Fed to avoid making any changes to CRA that would decrease investment in LIHTC.

On Monday, the Senate voted down a motion to consider the House-passed resolution of disapproval (H.J. Res. 90) to nullify the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s new rule on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The Federal Reserve’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking was officially published in the Federal Register. Comments are due by February 16, 2021; NH&RA will submit comments and encourages our members to do so as well.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) unanimously approved the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) reform. The ANPR uses a data-driven approach and solicits feedback in several areas. Comments are due 120 days after official publication in the Federal Register. NH&RA is still reviewing the ANPR with plans to submit comments and encourages our members to do so as well.

The Federal Reserve will hold an open board meeting at 10 a.m. ET on September 21 to discuss a potential Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) reform.

The Urban Institute argues that the new CRA regulations suffer from four big problems: (1) There is no evidence of the impact of the new regulations; (2) The primary metric used for assessing CRA compliance neglects community needs; (3) The regulations create a limited and unforgiving test on retail and community development lending, with limited community coverage; and (4) Public data will be lost while bank reporting burdens will increase.

The House of Representatives voted along party lines to pass a resolution of disapproval to nullify the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s new rule on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The Congressional Review Act of 1996 gives Congress the power to rescind administration rules within 60 calendar days. The bill (H.J. Res 90) would need to be passed by the Senate (with a simple majority) and be signed by the President, both of which seem unlikely to happen.

Today the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its final rule on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Regulations and a non-exhaustive list of CRA activities. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) declined to join today’s final rule saying in a statement, “While the FDIC strongly supports the efforts to make the CRA rules clearer, more transparent, and less subjective, the agency is not prepared to finalize the CRA proposal at this time.