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Five months after issuing a proposal to update the Community Reinvestment Act, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today released its final rule.

But unlike the December proposal, the other federal bank regulators did not endorse the final rule. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. decided not to adopt the OCC’s updates, while the Federal Reserve last year had declined to sign on to the OCC proposal.

The December proposal was criticized by housing organizations, community advocates, banking organizations and some lawmakers. The OCC said it received 7,500 comments about the proposal.

“Although commenters disagreed with the approach outlined in the proposal, the agency ultimately agreed with the minority of commenters who expressed support for the proposed framework,” the OCC said in the final rule.

Adopted in 1977, the CRA has not been revamped in 25 years. The regulations encourage financial institutions to meet community credit needs, including in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and prevent discrimination through redlining.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said in a statement that the new CRA rule would encourage banks to invest and provide services “in the communities they serve, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods across our country.”

“I want to make clear that the final rule makes no change to our commitment and obligation to fight discrimination and redlining,” Otting said in the statement. “We will continue to address these illegal practices through our fair lending examinations and, when necessary, enforcement authority under applicable laws.”

FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams said in a separate statement that many provisions in the new rules would “greatly benefit low- and moderate-income communities.” But she added that the FDIC would not move forward with the final rule.

“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,” McWilliams said. “The FDIC recognizes the herculean effort community banks are making to support America’s small businesses and families during this challenging time and encourages financial institutions to work constructively with borrowers affected by COVID-19.”

The 372-page final rule comes with an illustrative list of activities that the OCC would consider for CRA credit, addressing a common complaint from banks that they do not know whether activities will receive credit until the examination.

The final rule also addressed some other concerns from those who commented on the proposal.

A key criticism of the December proposal was that it gave credit based on the dollar value of lending rather than the quantity or the impact of activity. Several groups claimed that this approach would encourage lending for single, high value projects with less community impact.

The OCC adjusted the original proposal and will now consider the quantity and quality of activities, as well as their value.

The new rule also gives more credit for mortgage origination compared to what was originally proposed. The OCC said this would promote availability of affordable housing in low- and moderate-income areas.

Another criticism involved CRA credit for athletic stadiums. The new rule clarifies that lending for athletic facilities must benefit and support low- and moderate-income communities.

The new rule also calls for thresholds to be established for grading banks’ CRA performance and determining their deposit-based assessment areas. But these thresholds are deferred while the OCC assesses data required by the final rule.

About a dozen Massachusetts-based community banks are regulated by the OCC, including Westfield Bank and Arlington-based Leader Bank. But several banks will be able to opt out of the new CRA rules because of their size.

Small banks with assets of $600 million or less and intermediate banks with less than $2.5 billion in assets can operate under current CRA small bank and intermediate small bank performance standards.

“These standards are more tailored to the size of small and intermediate banks and their lending practices,” the final rule said.

But Massachusetts will be affected by the new rules since several regional and national banks are regulated by the OCC, including Bank of America, Santander Bank, TD Bank, Citizens Bank, Webster Bank and People’s United Bank.

OCC Releases Final CRA Rule Without FDIC Support

by Diane McLaughlin time to read: 3 min
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