CRA

After years of discussion among regulators, the Federal Reserve Board has approved changes to its CRA rules that will base compliance exams on where lending occurs rather than branch locations. The updates — set to take effect in January 2026 — also emphasize lending in lower-income areas as well as community development loans and investments.

Banking regulators have been debating how to reform the implementing regulations for the Community Reinvestment Act across two presidential administrations. But despite banks' urging to slow down, regulators are poised to finish the job in early fall.

The American Bankers Association and Bank Policy Institute Tuesday urged bank regulators to delay the finalization of its Community Reinvestment Act rule, saying regulators have not calibrated the rule to account for upcoming capital changes or considered whether courts will find the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure constitutional.

F.N.B. Corp, the holding company for First National Bank, is making its second investment in the $13 million-asset Hill District Federal Credit Union.

Advocacy groups want the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to downgrade the Community Reinvestment Act rating of FinWise Bank, which partners with nonbanks to offer high-cost consumer loans. The FDIC downgraded the rating of a second Utah-based bank following a similar campaign by consumer organizations.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has lowered the Utah bank's CRA score to "needs to improve," putting other banks that work with high-rate lenders on notice. 

The $7.1 billion-asset bank has established a partnership with the nonprofit HoneyBee that harks to its early days serving underbanked Korean business owners in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.

The industry needs a leader to be the face of a lawsuit challenging the proposal. The author nominates JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon.

The report, which examined trends between 2010 and 2021, found that the country's biggest banks only opened 638 branches in low-to-moderate-income communities made up primarily of people of color. That accounts for just 15% of their total branch openings.

The Federal Reserve, state supervisors and other bank regulators said they would not penalize institutions that work with impacted borrowers following devastating storms in Florida and Puerto Rico.