On October 4, 2010, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the agencies) jointly published in the Federal Register a final rule revising their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations.

The rule implements two statutory provisions of the CRA. First, it implements the statutory requirement that the agencies consider low-cost education loans provided by a financial institution to low-income borrowers when assessing an institution's record of meeting community credit needs.

Second, the rule incorporates into the agencies' regulations the statutory provision that allows the agencies to consider capital investment, loan participation, and other ventures undertaken by nonminority- and nonwomen-owned financial institutions in cooperation with minority- and women-owned financial institutions and low-income credit unions as a factor when assessing an institution's CRA record. The agencies included this provision as guidance in their "Questions and Answers Regarding Community Reinvestment," most recently published in the Federal Register on March 11.

The effective date of this joint final rule is November 3.

If you have questions about this final rule, please contact your supervisory office; Greg Nagel, National Bank Examiner, Compliance Policy Department, at 202-874-4428; or Margaret Hesse, Special Counsel, Community and Consumer Law Division, at 202-874-5750.

Ann F. Jaedicke
Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Policy

Related Link

• Final rule