In late October of 2021, the OCC issued a set of 25 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) relating to the OCC’s proposal to rescind and replace the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued on June 5, 2020 (June 2020 CRA rule). The FAQs provide information on the rulemaking process and the OCC’s consideration of potential CRA issues during any transition from the June 2020 CRA rule to a rule largely based on the rules adopted jointly by the OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1995, as revised (1995 rules).

On 7/20/2021, the FDIC, OCC, and Federal Reserve jointly issued a statement to explain that all three agencies “are committed to working together to jointly strengthen and modernize regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The agencies have broad authority and responsibility for implementing the CRA. Joint agency action will best achieve a consistent, modernized framework across all banks to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including low– and moderate-income neighborhoods.”

On 7/20/2021, the OCC announced it plans to propose rescinding the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued in May 2020. This rule, which applied only to OCC-regulated institutions, was not released in coordination with the other Federal Regulators and, essentially, would have created different CRA rules for financial institutions, based on each bank’s primary regulator.

In somewhat of a surprise turn of events, the OCC announced on 5/18/2021 that it plans to reconsider its June 2020 CRA rule. This backstep comes for a rule that was released only by the OCC as the FDIC and Federal Reserve did not participate in this final rule and had not come to a consensus on CRA reform - meaning the OCC was planning to implement a new CRA rule on their own, rather than jointly with the other agencies. Interestingly enough, the 5/18/21 announcement comes almost one year after prior OCC Comptroller Joseph Otting - who was the primary person pushing for CRA reform - issued the final rule, and then just hours later announced that he would be stepping down from the OCC.

On 1/29/2021, the OCC announced the availability of three things which apply to OCC-regulated institutions: the availability of the 2021 list of bank type determinations, the 2021 list of distressed and underserved areas, and the banking industry median hourly compensation value. This information applies to the OCC’s new CRA regulations that were published in the Federal Register on 6/5/2020.

On 12/17/2020, the FDIC and Federal Reserve Board jointly announced the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define small bank and intermediate small bank under their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations. The definitions of small and intermediate small institutions regulated by the FDIC or Federal Reserve will change as follows:

• “Small bank” means an institution that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had assets of less than $1.322 billion.

• “Intermediate small bank” means a small institution with assets of at least $330 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar years and less than $1.322 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years.

On 11/24/2020, the OCC issued a proposed rulemaking on the Community Reinvestment Act’s (CRA) general performance standards. This proposal comes after the June 2020 final rule and provides the OCC’s planned approach to determine the CRA evaluation measure benchmarks, retail lending distribution test thresholds, and community development minimums under the general performance standards set forth in the 2020 final rule.

On 9/21/2020, the Federal Reserve Board issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) and invited public comment on an approach to modernize CRA regulations. The ANPR is looking for feedback on “ways to evaluate how banks meet the needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities and address inequities in credit access.” This rule, of course, comes a few months after the OCC issued a final rule that requires financial institutions regulated by the OCC to comply with by October 1, 2020, January 1, 2023, or January 1, 2024. Therefore, it appears that this ANPR would only apply to financial institutions regulated by the Federal Reserve. The FDIC has not yet announced their intentions for CRA revisions, though they had originally issued the the proposal jointly with the OCC, but have not yet finalized the same rule as the OCC.

On 6/24/2020, the FFIEC announced the release of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies. As explained in the release, these are geographic areas where revitalization or stabilization activities are eligible to receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration under the community development definition.