The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) unanimously approved the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) reform. The ANPR uses a data-driven approach and solicits feedback in several areas, including: a preapproval process, clarifying the definitions of qualifying activities and changes to address the inequities and challenges faced by minority communities and individuals.
In some ways, the proposed changes differ significantly from the final CRA regulations published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), but Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard also asserted the Federal Reserve’s significant overlap with the OCC CRA regulations. Gov. Brainard expressed hope that the ANPR could lead to a unified set of CRA final regulations among all three federal banking regulators–OCC, Federal Insurance Deposition Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve. Comments are due 120 days after official publication in the Federal Register. NH&RA is still reviewing the ANPR with plans to submit comments and encourages our members to do so as well.
