CRA

After years of discussion among regulators, the Federal Reserve Board has approved changes to its CRA rules that will base compliance exams on where lending occurs rather than branch locations. The updates — set to take effect in January 2026 — also emphasize lending in lower-income areas as well as community development loans and investments.

Banking regulators have been debating how to reform the implementing regulations for the Community Reinvestment Act across two presidential administrations. But despite banks' urging to slow down, regulators are poised to finish the job in early fall.

The American Bankers Association and Bank Policy Institute Tuesday urged bank regulators to delay the finalization of its Community Reinvestment Act rule, saying regulators have not calibrated the rule to account for upcoming capital changes or considered whether courts will find the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure constitutional.

Bank regulators are considering a measure that would rewrite the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act. They should consider taking their existing rules seriously.

The Federal Reserve, state supervisors and other bank regulators said they would not penalize institutions that work with impacted borrowers following devastating storms in Florida and Puerto Rico.

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey criticized the degree of "opacity" surrounding some community benefit agreements, or written deals between banks and community groups ahead of a merger that often involve billions of dollars of commitments.

It is essential to place the central focus on race, to bring nondepository mortgage lenders under the Community Reinvestment Act umbrella and to address bias in home appraisals.

The CRA has failed to reduce anti-Black racial discrimination in financial services, to lower poverty or to lessen environmental destruction.

The central bank has a long history of diluting the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made good on a promise to rescind Community Reinvestment Act reforms finalized by ex-Comptroller Joseph Otting as part of talks with other regulators on an interagency overhaul of the law.