OCC Issues Final CRA Rule

On 5/20/2020 the OCC issued a final CRA rule. This final rules was released only by the OCC as the FDIC and Federal Reserve have not yet participated in this final rule and the rule was release hours before OCC Comptroller - who was the one pushing for CRA reform - announced that he will be stepping down from his duties at the OCC.

In their release, the OCC states that the final rule reflects consideration of more than 7,500 comments submitted in response to the December 2019 proposal and the OCC states they made several changes to the proposal due to comments received, including:

  • Clarifying the importance of the quantity and quality of activities as well as their value.

  • Increasing credit for mortgage origination to promote availability of affordable housing in low- and moderate-income areas.

  • Clarifying credit for athletic facilities to ensure they benefit and support low- and moderate-income communities.

  • Deferring establishment of thresholds for grading banks’ CRA performance until the OCC assesses improved data required by the final rule.

The final rule, which will only apply to OCC regulated banks (at this point) can be found here.

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