Sept 28 -- Comment period extended to October 28, 2022.
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-20923
Sept 14 -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) invites comments by October 14, 2022 regarding the extension of its Community Reinvestment Act data collection.
The Community Reinvestment Act regulation requires the FDIC to assess the record of banks and thrifts in helping meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations; and to take this record into account in evaluating applications for mergers, branches, and certain other corporate activities. There is no change in the method or substance of the collection. The overall decrease in burden hours is a result of decreases in the estimated number of respondents. On June 3, 2022, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the FDIC (the Agencies) published a proposal to amend the Agencies' Community Reinvestment Act regulations.
The Agencies are expecting comments from the industry and other concerned parties which will be considered and addressed when a final rule is issued. The FDIC does not wish to discontinue this information collection while the proposed revisions are considered and a new rule is issued and is, therefore, extending its Community Reinvestment Act information collection as-is, without revision, to preserve its validity..
The Community Reinvestment Act regulation (CRA) requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (collectively, the Agencies) to assess the record of banks and thrifts in helping meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations; and to take this record into account in evaluating applications for mergers, branches, and certain other corporate activities. Further, the CRA statute requires the Agencies to issue regulations to carry out its purposes.
The Agencies must provide written CRA evaluations of the institutions they supervise. The public portion of each written evaluation must present the agency’s conclusions with respect to the CRA performance standards identified in its regulations; include the facts and data supporting those conclusions; and must contain the institution’s CRA rating and the basis for that rating. The conclusions with respect to each performance standard (together with supporting facts and data) must be presented separately for each metropolitan area in which the institution maintains one or more domestic branches. If the institution has interstate branches, the appropriate agency must prepare separate written evaluations for each state in which the institution has a branch. This state-specific evaluation must present information separately for each metropolitan area where the institution has a branch and for the rest of the non-metropolitan area of the state, if the institution has a branch in the non-metropolitan area. If the institution has a branch in a multistate metropolitan area, the agency must prepare a separate written evaluation of the institution’s record of performance in that multistate metropolitan area.
The Agencies use the information to assess each institution’s record of helping to meet the credit needs of its entire community. The Agencies use the data to support their conclusions regarding an institution’s record of performance, in assigning a rating, and in preparing the written public evaluations that the statute requires when an institution is examined. Additionally, judgments based on these data are used in evaluating an institution’s applications for mergers, branches, and other corporate activities. The public uses this information to assess independently the institution’s CRA performance and to participate meaningfully in the application process.
The Agencies use the data to examine, assess, and assign a rating to an institution’s CRA performance and to prepare the public section of the written CRA performance evaluation. The collection emphasizes performance over paperwork and eliminates unnecessary documentation of policies, procedures, and CRA contacts. By stating clearly what they use to assess CRA performance, the Agencies have eliminated incentives for an institution to maintain voluminous records solely for the purpose of demonstrating compliance to the regulator. In addition, where feasible, the Agencies permit institutions to use data that are already available (for example, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)) data. Finally, the collection provides evaluation criteria that vary appropriately with the size and business strategy of the institution.
The Agencies use information technology to reduce compliance burden on institutions and decrease costs to both the institutions and the Agencies. To help alleviate the burden and expense of geocoding loans, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) provides a geocoding utility free-of-charge on its web site. This program enables an institution to enter the address of a given property and quickly obtain the information needed to geocode the property. This site also provides demographic data about each property; it has been used extensively by financial institutions and the public.
FDIC CRA banker resource webpage:
https://www.fdic.gov/resources/bankers/community-reinvestment-act/index.html
FDIC CRA submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202204-3064-001 Click IC List for survey instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this site.
FR notice inviting comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-19802
For AEA members wishing to submit comments to OMB, the AEA Committee on Economic Statistics offers "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806