When looking at modernizing/improving the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA), regulators must look back on the past to see how we got here. This look backward, while disconcerting, is not difficult. Redlining was real. It was an accepted (and…
Category: Community Reinvestment
Will There be a Merger Miracle in 2022?
If you can’t remember the last time federal regulators denied a bank merger application, you’re not alone. It has been years. In fact, when we began writing Jumbo Rate News in 1983, there were almost 15,000 banks in the U.S.;…
Community Banks Critical for Small Businesses
According to the Federal Reserve’s 2021 Small Business Credit Survey, 48% of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applicants went to community banks for funding while only 43% went to Big Banks. What’s more, 78% of those that applied at community banks…
Economic Injustice Puts Banks on Notice
As we write this week’s article, CEOs of six of the nation’s largest banks are taking a verbal beating from Congress. Lawmakers took exception to some of the ways they perceive these bankers have taken advantage of poorer clients during…
In The Pursuit of Justice and Equality
Over the past year, some of our country’s biggest banks (Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and BofA) have pledged millions to Black-owned banks (or MDIs) and racial justice initiatives, but those did not necessarily focus on Asians or Pacific Islanders… until recent…
Otting CRA: Now or Never
Joseph M. Otting steps down as Comptroller of the Currency effective Friday, May 29th. But before leaving, he made sure that years of work towards improving the Community Reinvestment Act had not been done in vain. The agency went solo…
CRA: Too Important to Rush, Wait
CRA: Too Important to Rush, Too Important to Wait Federal bank regulators have been attempting to overhaul the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for a couple of years now. Since becoming law in 1977, CRA has been the impetus for…