B of A: 'Sunshine' Rules Won't Halt CRA Lending

WASHINGTON - Federal disclosures proposed this week involving banks' Community Reinvestment Act agreements will not deter Bank of America Corp.'s lending in poor neighborhoods, chief executive officer Hugh L. McColl said Thursday.

Regulators issued a plan this week that would enforce the so-called CRA "sunshine" provisions of last year's financial reform law. The law requires banks to disclose grants or loans to any community group that has challenged its CRA compliance and to file annual reports on these agreements. Community groups also have to report how the funds are used. Some critics fear the requirements will stifle reinvestment pacts.

In a press conference at the National Press Club here, Mr. McColl reported that his institution made nearly $40 billion of loans and investments in low-income areas last year and is on track to exceed a promise it made last year to make $350 billion of such loans by 2009.

"The CRA really has nothing to do with what we do," Mr. McColl said. "We do it because we want to do it, because we like doing it, and because we make money doing it."

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