Washington, DC – Today, in reaction to the bank regulatory agencies’ release of final revisions to “Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Community Reinvestment,” NCRC President and CEO John Taylor made the following statement:
“We are profoundly disappointed that the agencies have not undertaken desperately needed reforms that would update the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to take into account significant changes to the banking industry since the last reforms over two decades ago. In 2010, the agencies held multiple public hearings on “modernization of the regulations that implement the CRA.” For the hundreds of organizations and community members testifying, the clear expectation was that the agencies would update the regulation. That did not happen. Instead, today, we got some important tweaks in the form of a questions and answers document, but large substantive issues remain unaddressed. The working-class American consumer loses as the result of that abdication of responsibility. Reforms to the regulation and/or examination procedures are needed to take lending beyond bank branches into consideration on CRA exams, to improve and strengthen the system of CRA grading (98 to 99 percent of banks pass every year), to require the inclusion of affiliates, and to examine lending in communities of color.”
“The regulators have made some modest changes and improvements in this Q&A, but they will have limited benefit, compared to the need expressed by the public for access to business loans, mortgage loans and basic banking services. CRA is the law that ensures that blue collar and working Americans have fair access to credit, and the regulators have failed in their responsibility to make sure the law evolves as the market has evolved, to protect the interests of working class people.”
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About NCRC:
NCRC and its grassroots member organizations create opportunities for people to build wealth. We work with community leaders, policymakers and financial institutions to champion fairness in banking, housing and business development.
