On November 24, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the Community Reinvestment Act’s (CRA) general performance standards. The OCC published a final rule on May 20, 2020, with an October 1, 2020 effective date, to strengthen and modernize the agency’s regulations under the CRA to encourage banks to engage in more activities to serve the needs of their communities, particularly low- and moderate-income and other historically underserved communities.
The NPRM outlines the OCC’s 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. The proposal also explains how the OCC would assess significant declines in CRA activities levels in connection with performance context following the initial establishment of the benchmarks, minimums, and thresholds. Finally, the proposed rule would make clarifying and technical amendments to the 2020 final rule.
Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.
