CRA

The Federal Reserve System is trying to be proactive in these and other high-profile areas, offering educational materials and coaching to bank execs and directors, according to supervision officials at the St. Louis and Richmond Fed banks.

The heavy workload is not limited to implementing the financial regulatory reform bill enacted last spring, as the agencies also work to craft reforms of the Community Reinvestment Act and adjust key capital measures for the biggest banks.

Readers weigh in on infighting at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, react to a push for open banking in the United States, consider small-dollar bank loans and more.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency lowered the $14 billion-asset thrift in Cleveland to “needs to improve” from "satisfactory."

Better incentives to lend and invest in underserved communities are also worthy of consideration, Loretta Mester says, as regulators try to blend the best of the Community Reinvestment Act with new ideas in updating its rules.

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The agency has suggested several steps in its notice on reforming the law that could actually harm, not help, underserved communities.

Analysts say the proposal will hurt more than help, and while it isn't expected to gain traction soon, that could change if Democrats retake the Senate.

Another regulator has already gone out on its own with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. But, Powell said, "It’s a process and we’re very much interested in pushing forward.”

Sen. Warren proposes a bill that would extend the law to credit unions while stiffening penalties; the Spanish bank taps UBS’s Andrea Orcel.