Brainard: Fed actively involved in CRA reform

In a presentation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City yesterday, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said that the Board is actively involved in the process of revising Community Reinvestment Act regulations. She addressed concerns voiced by members of the Fed's Community Advisory Council that the recent OCC advance notice of rulemaking was not issued on an interagency basis. Governor Brainard said, "Even though the Federal Reserve did not join in the publication of the ANPR, we will be reading the comment letters in anticipation of working with the Comptroller and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on a joint proposal. We understand the importance of having the agencies work toward one set of CRA regulations that are clear and consistently applied and will do everything we can to make that possible. CRA regulations are complicated, and the regulators will benefit from perspectives from a variety of channels, so I encourage you all to submit comments. The CRA is too important to the financial well-being of communities across this country for banks and community members to disengage in any part of this process."

Brainard also said that the Federal Reserve "is interested in promoting greater consistency and predictability in CRA evaluations and ratings. We see the value of clearer definitions and metrics that use publicly available information to identify local credit needs and opportunities."