Any suggestions on good training seminars/webinars for someone totally new to CRA (and new to banking)? Particularly for a large bank.

Of course, I know I can give this person the reg, commentary, FAQs, Fed Reserve Guide, and the other reference material on the FFIEC website. Plus I have the 2010 BOL webinar "Community Reinvestment Act - Review & Update," as well as "Identifying and Documenting CRA Community Development Activities."

Just wondering what else might be out there that would be good.

It might also be good to have the newbie review CRA Performance Evaluations for peer banks. That will give him/her a good idea of what the regulators specifically look for.

I don't know of anything additional from what you list except for the evaluations of other banks that are available from the FFIEC website. I think that the "spirit" of the regulation needs to be learned - not just the actual regulation. I have found that this is particularly true in the area of community development. The PEs from other institutions always allow me to dig into the examiner's thought processes.

I have never attended this, but I understand that the CRA Colloquium that Wolters Kluwer puts on is excellent. If it was on the East Coast I would attend.

I have presentation materials and handouts from an Interagency CRA Workshop that could serve as a good foundation. If interested PM me with your email address and I will be happy to send them to you.

I agree with GuitarDude. In our bank which is an intermediate small classification, my partner & I found reviewing CRA performance evaluations for peer banks were very helpful. It gave us insight as to what our examiners would be looking for specifically the community development test. I would highly recommend this practice. We also shared that with our examiners as one way we prepared ourselves for our recent CRA exam, and they agreed that it is a helpful tool to use.