OCC RECONSIDERING THE 2020 CRA RULE

Posted on by jholzknecht

On May 18, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published OCC Bulletin 2021-2, which states that the OCC has determined that it will reconsider the final CRA Rule published on June 5, 2020. While this reconsideration is ongoing, the OCC:

  • Will not object to the suspension of the development of systems for, or other implementation of, provisions with a compliance date of January 1, 2023, or January 1, 2024, under the 2020 CRA rule.
  • Does not plan to finalize the December 4, 2020, proposed rule that requested comment on an approach to determine the CRA evaluation measure benchmarks, retail lending distribution test thresholds, and community development minimums under the June 2020 rule.
  • Will not implement or rely on the evaluation criteria in the June 2020 rule pertaining to:
    • Quantification of qualifying activities (12 CFR 25.07 and 25.08);
    • Assessment areas (12 CFR 25.09);
    • General performance standards (12 CFR 25.10 through 25.13);
    • Data collection (12 CFR 25.21);
    • Recordkeeping (12 CFR 25.25); and
    • Reporting (12 CFR 25.26).
  • Will continue to implement the provisions of the June 2020 CRA rule that had a compliance date of October 1, 2020. The OCC interpreted and explained these provisions in OCC Bulletin 2020-99. These implementation efforts include
    • Issuance of OCC Bulletin 2021-5 providing bank type determinations, lists of distressed and underserved areas, and the median hourly compensation value for community development service activities; 
    • Deployment of the CRA Qualifying Activities Confirmation Request process for banks and other stakeholders to request confirmation whether an activity meets the qualifying criteria under the June 2020 CRA rule; and
    • Provision of training on provisions of the June 2020 rule with the October 1, 2020, compliance date in a series of webinars for examiners and bankers.

The revisions of the CRA rules cannot be completed until the OCC, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agree on a single set of rules. The OCC’s reconsideration of its 2020 Final rule is the necessary first step in the process of obtaining uniformity.