Joseph Otting

The OCC is plowing ahead on plans to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act, but a growing consensus of industry and community voices says now is not the time for a major overhaul.

Minorities are often hit harder financially during a crisis, but if regulators move forward on revamping the Community Reinvestment Act, they’ll only make matters worse.

Lenders and community groups say it's a mistake for the banking agencies to move forward during a national crisis. But Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting says updated Community Reinvestment Act rules would speed relief to neighborhoods and small businesses.

Regulators point to traditional financial institutions as well-positioned to meet short-term credit needs during the coronavirus pandemic, but there are still a host of questions about whether the industry should try to compete with high-cost lenders.

The ICBA chief’s plea for a six-month halt to regulations not related to the pandemic followed similar calls by community groups and a key Senate Democrat.

The joint statement said examiners will not impede banks and credit unions’ responsible efforts to offer open lines of credit, closed-installment loans or other products to borrowers dealing with fallout from the pandemic.

The joint statement said examiners will not impede banks’ responsible efforts to offer open lines of credit, closed-installment loans or other products to borrowers dealing with fallout from the pandemic.

The OCC and FDIC’s proposal for modernizing the community reinvestment law would give banks below $500 million of assets the option to keep the current regime. But bankers and industry representatives say that threshold should be higher.

The banking regulators have announced that they are postponing next week’s National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference because of growing health concerns about the virus outbreak.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting suggested the central bank was adopting a “partisan” stance against his plan to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act.

The deal, which could be announced Monday, would push the TurboTax maker into consumer finance; the bank would follow U.S. rival Goldman Sachs into the British market.

Goldman Sachs pledged in late 2019 to stop financing projects in coal and Arctic oil exploration. Activist groups and Democratic senators say other large institutions should do the same given the economic and environmental risks from climate change.

In a sudden reversal, the OCC and FDIC said they would push back the deadline to April for groups to weigh in on the proposal to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act.

Compared with incendiary fights elsewhere in the capital, deliberations among the banking agencies tend to be more banal. But on issues from the Volcker Rule to CRA reform, disagreements lately between officials have grown sharper.

At a recent congressional hearing, OCC chief Joseph Otting showed just how far he might go in allowing reinvestment credits to lenders.

Most stakeholders agree that the Community Reinvestment Act needs to be updated, but a congressional hearing featuring the regulator leading the overhaul effort showed just how contentious the process has become.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting upset some House Democrats when he was a no-show at a previous oversight hearing. They will now get a chance to question him about the future of the Community Reinvestment Act.

The comptroller of the currency stood firm in defense of his agency's proposal, saying skeptics of various parts of the draft framework do not have their facts straight.

The House Financial Services Committee chair asked two regulatory agencies about what steps they've taken to prevent fabricated comment letters as they invite the public to weigh in on Community Reinvestment Act changes.

As the regulatory agencies have struggled to reach a consensus, a proposal championed by Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has divided lawmakers and been assailed by community groups.