OCC should improve CRA, not gut it

American Banker
Thursday, September 27, 2018

The Trump Administration recently proposed changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, a law initially intended to fix problems caused by redlining. Recent investigations show that redlining never went away, and these underserved areas continue to fall behind in racial and economic-equity indicators. So clearly, CRA could be improved. But it has been an important antidote to redlining and plays a critical role in increasing access to fair credit. Now advocates and bankers serving the public interest have the opportunity to make it better, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's advance notice of proposed rulemaking out for comment. The author of this article presents three areas to consider when deciding how.