CRA

Heads of the three major bank regulatory agencies made their case for why the recently finalized framework implementing the Community Reinvestment Act is not all bad for the banks subjected to it.

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.

While federal regulators attempt to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act for banks, Congress has shown little interest in applying it to other lenders. But recent moves in Illinois and New York have given some stakeholders hope that state lawmakers will pick up the slack.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed it will rescind an unpopular rule overhauling the Community Reinvestment Act and joined other agencies in calling for a renewed interagency effort.

The agency said it will reconsider the controversial regulation to reform the Community Reinvestment Act, and allow banks to halt efforts to comply with key provisions of the framework.

The Biden administration may finally be close to naming an acting comptroller of the currency. Whoever gets the interim job or is confirmed to run the agency over the longer term will have a lengthy to-do list, from Community Reinvestment Act reform to deciding the fate of divisive Trump-era rules.

The head of the Federal Reserve appeared to support Congress’s expanding the scope of the Community Reinvestment Act to unregulated institutions, just as regulators weigh how to modernize the framework for banks.

Some nominees poised to take their agencies in a new direction appear headed for Senate confirmation while an intraparty squabble has delayed the administration’s choice to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Here’s the roster update.

A federal judge denied the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's motion to have the case thrown out, saying concerns about the agency's rulemaking process to reform the Community Reinvestment Act have merit.

President Biden and Democrats in Congress have backed plans to subject a broader array of companies to Community Reinvestment Act requirements. But there’s no guarantee such reforms will happen.

The administration faces a slew of immediate financial policy tasks, such as passing a new round of small-business aid, charting a course for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and filling vacant agency leadership posts.