Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA

We are pleased to announce the revised Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA is now available and can be accessed online in PDF or ordered in hardcopy. The updated guide is a handy tool for quick access to the CRA regulation and examination procedures.

Changes to CRA
In 2005, a joint ruling by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made several changes to the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act. The key changes include:

• The small bank asset size threshold now includes banks with assets under $1 billion, without regard to holding company affiliation.
• A new category of small banks, the Intermediate Small Bank (ISB), was created for banks between $250 million and $1 billion in asset size.
• ISBs, like all small banks, are not required to collect and report CRA loan data.
• Examiners will evaluate ISB CRA performance using the Small Bank Lending Test and a new flexible Community Development Test. The results of the analyses will be disclosed in the Public Evaluation.
• The definition of community development has been expanded to include not only activities that revitalize or stabilize low- and moderate-income geographies but also activities that revitalize or stabilize: distressed or underserved non-metropolitan middle-income geographies, or designated disaster areas. This expanded definition applies to all banks.

We hope the Banker’s Quick Reference Guide to CRA serves as a helpful resource.