The Hill, January 23, 2020: CRA modernization: A once-in-a-generation opportunity
For the first time in over 20 years, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is being changed and the result will have a major impact on every community in America. If done right, banks will be better incented to make critical investments in communities that have long been underserved. Unfortunately, that is not happening.
The Trump Administration is ignoring two years of its own consultations and recommendations, and instead opting to gut this historic and effective law.
Ironically, this approach will hurt banks as well as the communities they serve. Without broad support across the political spectrum, it’s just another swing of the regulatory pendulum that will cost banks hundreds of millions as they retool compliance systems, and hundreds of millions more when the pendulum swings back and they readjust again. Worse, however, it will undercut efforts to help millions of low- and moderate-income people in the communities that need CRA the most.
