Agencies Issue Final Rule to Strengthen and Modernize Community Reinvestment Act Regulations — 2023-10-24

Federal bank regulatory agencies today jointly issued a final rule to strengthen and modernize regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to better achieve the purposes of the law. The CRA is a landmark law enacted nearly 50 years ago to encourage banks to help meet the credit needs of their entire communities, especially in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods, in a safe and sound manner. Building on feedback from commenters on the proposed rule and research, the final rule updates the CRA regulations to achieve the following key goals: Encourage banks to expand access to credit, investment, and banking services in LMI communities. Under the final rule, the agencies will evaluate bank performance across the varied activities they conduct and communities in which they operate so that the CRA continues to be a strong and effective tool to address inequities in access to credit and financial services.