How to estimate how your performance will look under the new CRA
2024 Regulatory Hot Topics
The Coming Perfect Storm
The Importance of Assessment Areas
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Community Reinvestment Act Reform: A Close Look at the Final Rule
Keeping up with all the new regulations
What’s behind the increase in CRA Exam failures?
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): Recap and What to Expect in 2014
When the new 2023 CRA Rule was approved by regulators FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg indicated one of the goals was to “raise the bar” for CRA performance ratings. Now that the final 2023 CRA performance ratings are in it...more
Recent news stories explain the criticism of Senator Warren and Congresswoman Waters directed at banks that are litigating the 2023 CRA rule. But perhaps their frustration should be focused on the regulators who have...more
Federal banking regulators are asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a Texas court injunction barring implementation of new Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules....more
On April 4, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu provided his remarks for the second year in a row at the Just Economy Conference hosted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. He focused his remarks on...more
FDIC’s Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg recently gave remarks at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition on the FDIC’s economic inclusion strategy. ...more
On March 21, the FDIC, Fed, and OCC jointly issued an interim final rule to extend the applicability date of certain provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule and requested comments on the extension. The...more
Now that a Texas court has issued a temporary injunction delaying the April 1, 2024, scheduled implementation of the new CRA Rule should bankers relax and assume that the new rule’s effective date has been delayed for at...more
The March 21, 2024, announcement that the prudential bank regulators have decided to postpone the scheduled April 1, “applicable” date for the Facility-based assessment areas, the new Public File section and the Public Notice...more
With April 1, 2024, the effective date for the new CRA rule fast approaching, every bank is asking what must we do on April 1? Here are the answers....more
The Retail Lending Test in the new CRA will measure bank performance against “market” benchmarks (lending activity reported by other lenders) and “community” benchmarks” (community demographics). Many bankers, although not...more
The Situation: On January 29, 2024, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") requested comment on a proposed rule updating its bank merger rules and incorporating a policy statement (the "Proposal") on agency...more
Several national and Texas banking and business trade groups have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging the final regulations (Final Rules) implementing the Community...more
I have written a number of articles about the new CRA and the problems its requirements will impose on banks. But there are also problems posed by what the new Rule omits....more
This week, the Texas Bankers Association, the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the Longview Chamber of Commerce, the Independent...more
As discussed here, on October 24, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finally issued their long-awaited final rule modernizing how they...more
Our office has been inundated with inquiries about an aspect of the impact of the impending new CRA rule. As we have noted in previous articles there are mistakes and inconsistencies in the new CRA Rule, and some of these...more
The new CRA Rule has a number of surprises for banks and maybe a surprise or two for the regulators themselves. One of those surprises involves the transition rules in §__.51 as they pertain to the April 1, 2024, the...more
Most of the articles published about the new CRA rule have repeated the party line – that the new rule “modernizes” the Regulation, that it will make CRA exams more objective and CRA ratings more consistent, etc. But the new...more
Dear Banker, The new CRA Rule contains a "break" for Large banks that would exempt them from having to declare Retail Lending Assessment Areas ("RLAAs") for any calendar year in which the bank lends more than 80% of its home...more
In Parts I and II I explained the devastating impact of the new CRA Rule and what the underlying reasons for that adverse impact are. In Part III I will touch upon what banks are most significantly impacted by the new Rule....more
This is our third blog post on the final rule issued on October 24, 2023 by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...more
With all the news stories circulating about the new CRA Rule, it's surprising that not one article has addressed the topic that should be the biggest story of all - the catastrophic implications for banks!...more
This is our second blog post on the final rule issued on October 24, 2023 by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...more
On October 24, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule amending their regulations...more
On October 24, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the Agencies) approved long-awaited final...more