Wild Times for the Community Reinvestment Act
Daily Compliance News: July 31, 2025. The Forgotten Generation Edition
Compliance Tip of the Day: Citibank and Continuous Monitoring
Wire Fraud Litigants Beware: Fourth Circuit Ruling Protects the Banks — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Top challenges with Compliance Management
From Banks to FinTech: The Evolution of Small Business Lending — The Consumer Finance Podcast
From Banks to FinTech: The Evolution of Small Business Lending — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
The Capital Ratio Podcast | Entering the US Banking Market
Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Banking on Lending Models — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Understanding MALPB Charters: A Collaborative Approach to Banking Innovation — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
The fatal flaws in the 2023 CRA rule
Fraud, the silent epidemic
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Private Civil Consumer Financial Services Litigation to Partially Fill CFPB Void - Part 1
Daily Compliance News: April 21, 2025, The Tribute to Pope Francis Edition
Predictions regarding the 2023 CRA Rule and Section 1071 and how to prepare for expected developments
The Capital Ratio Podcast | Stablecoins: Regulatory Issues for UK and EU Banks To Consider
Strengthening Compliance: Lessons From the OCC's Consent Order With Patriot Bank — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Navigating 2025: Federal Legislative and Regulatory Updates on Stablecoins and Decentralized Finance — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Third-Party Risk The competitive world of banking struggles to keep up with technological advances, particularly in a regulatory environment.
Deposit Account Litigation: Highlights From 2024 and What to Expect in 2025 — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Join top CRA experts Dr. Ken Thomas, Len Suzio and Dean Stockford for a wide ranging discussion on the Community Reinvestment Act....more
On July 16, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the federal banking agencies) jointly published a proposed rule...more
On July 1, the OCC released CRA performance evaluations for 22 national banks, federal savings associations, and insured federal branches of foreign banks, covering the period from June 1 through June 30. Of the evaluations...more
Ever since the 1995 CRA rule was published bank regulators have mandated certain “community” and “market” benchmarks as the basis for rating bank performance under the CRA regulations. Most of that data is in the public...more
Dear Banker, Many bankers are easily confused by the technical requirements for loans in "disaster areas'' to be potentially qualified for community development credit under CRA. This brief article explains how to avoid...more
In the first 3 articles in this series (1, 2, 3), we identified fatal flaws in the 2023 CRA rule. In Parts 4a – 4c we propose the regulators consider potential improvements to the rule when they publish the Notice of Proposed...more
In the previous 3 articles of this 4-part series I identified and explained three types of fatal flaws in the 2023 CRA rule: 1. The unreliable and sometimes misleading performance ratings based on unrealistic assessment...more
When the new CRA rule was published in late 2023 it contained some very serious flaws that need to be corrected. In fact, some of those flaws are so bad that they left the Trump Administration with only 2 choices,...more
When the new 2023 CRA Rule was approved by regulators FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg indicated one of the goals was to “raise the bar” for CRA performance ratings. Now that the final 2023 CRA performance ratings are in it...more
Recent news stories explain the criticism of Senator Warren and Congresswoman Waters directed at banks that are litigating the 2023 CRA rule. But perhaps their frustration should be focused on the regulators who have...more
FDIC’s Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg recently gave remarks at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition on the FDIC’s economic inclusion strategy. ...more
With April 1, 2024, the effective date for the new CRA rule fast approaching, every bank is asking what must we do on April 1? Here are the answers....more
There has been much understandable confusion about many aspects of the new CRA rule. But perhaps there’s been no greater confusion and anxiety than about the Assessment Areas. And this anxiety has become more acute the closer...more
In July 2023, the Office of Management & Budget published an update to “Core Based Statistical Areas, Metropolitan Divisions, and Combined Statistical Areas”. That document contains the latest definitions of Metropolitan...more
I’ve written at least a dozen articles about the dramatic impact the new CRA is going to have on banks. Until now, only about 1.2% of bank CRA examinations end with a failing grade. But, by the estimates of the regulators, if...more
Several national and Texas banking and business trade groups have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging the final regulations (Final Rules) implementing the Community...more
I have written a number of articles about the new CRA and the problems its requirements will impose on banks. But there are also problems posed by what the new Rule omits....more
In Parts I and II I explained the devastating impact of the new CRA Rule and what the underlying reasons for that adverse impact are. In Part III I will touch upon what banks are most significantly impacted by the new Rule....more
This is our third blog post on the final rule issued on October 24, 2023 by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...more
In my previous email I explained the devastating impact of the new CRA Rule on the percentage of banks receiving a less than satisfactory CRA Performance Rating. The data in Table 32 within the new Rule demonstrate that if...more
This is our second blog post on the final rule issued on October 24, 2023 by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...more
On October 24, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule amending their regulations...more
Editor's Note - A Tale of Two Agencies. On November 27, Joseph M. Otting was sworn in as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency. Mr. Otting seamlessly succeeded Keith A. Noreika, who became Acting Comptroller in May 2017...more
On September 24, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank, F.S.B. (Hudson). The complaint alleges that Hudson...more