Community Reinvestment Act Regulations

What it does

• •Proposes amendments to OCC and FDIC regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act, making substantive, technical, and process-oriented changes to the rules that have been in effect since 1995.
• •Aims to refocus CRA rules on the statutory objective of encouraging banks to meet the credit needs of their communities and to ensure community development grants reach intended beneficiaries.
• •Proposes to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, particularly for community banks, and provide greater clarity on how to obtain CRA consideration.
• •Includes technical changes to sunshine requirements under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and related rules on public welfare investments and corporate activities.

Why it matters

• •The current CRA regulations have remained largely unchanged since 1995; the agencies cite decades of supervisory experience and stakeholder feedback indicating a need for updates to better align rules with statutory intent.
• •Changes aim to reduce regulatory burden on community banks while maintaining the core framework designed to ensure banks serve their communities' credit needs, a statutory requirement since the CRA's enactment in 1977.

Who is affected

• •Insured depository institutions (national banks, state banks, and savings associations) supervised by the OCC and FDIC.
• •Community development organizations and communities that benefit from bank lending and grant programs under CRA requirements.

What happens next

Public comments are due by October 13, 2026, after which the agencies will review submissions before issuing a final rule.