February 2024

Community Reinvestment Act Rule Overhaul Finalized by U.S. Banking Regulators

Authors:

Quelle: Banking Law Journal

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (the Agencies) have finalized an overhaul of the regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) (the Final Rule).1 The Final Rule is the result of a coordinated interagency effort and drastically changes how all but the smallest banks will be evaluated for compliance with the CRA.

The Final Rule is the culmination of a rulemaking process that initiated five years ago to modernize the CRA regulations. The result is an incredibly complex regulatory scheme, with the version to be published in the Federal Register coming in at 1,494 pages and 651,627 words, including background and section-by-section analysis—“by far the longest rulemaking the FDIC has ever issued,” according to FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill.2 The text of the regulation itself is over 60,000 words.

The Final Rule becomes effective on April 1, 2024, but there is a multiyear phase-in. This article provides background on the rulemaking process and a high-level summary of the Final Rule.