NEW YORK — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Jelena McWilliams said it could still be months before regulators unveil their proposal to reform the Community Reinvestment Act.
McWilliams, whose agency has been working on a CRA update along with the Federal Reserve Board and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said the regulators have made progress but acknowledged that the reform process has been slow.
The agencies are “looking to put something out in the next few months,” she said in remarks Wednesday to a conference hosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
Regulators last revised CRA policy in the mid-'90s but are considering another overhaul as the evolution of banks' digital footprints is out of step with the 1977 law. CRA grades institutions' efforts to reallocate resources in their regional communities, defined by their physical branch networks.
The OCC was the first of the three bank regulators to invite questions on how to revamp the 40-year-old law. The OCC amassed roughly 1,500 comments that were shared with the other two agencies.
Among possible reforms are expanding banks' CRA assessment areas, greater clarity for institutions about what qualifies for CRA credit and ensuring that CRA investments are allocated to entities most in need of credit.
McWilliams said the regulators are “trying to think outside of the box.”
“Someone recommended that rural states’ broadband access is questionable at times or unavailable, and whether or not broadband investments should qualify for CRA credit," she said. "And I’m open to it because we need to be thinking more broadly than just what was envisioned in 1977 and 1995.”
