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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 178 / Friday, September 17, 2021 / Proposed Rules final rules based on this proposal. The OCC proposes to apply a transition for replacing certain aspects of the June 2020 Rule e.g., bank type changes, approved strategic plans, and qualifying activities. Subsequently, as part of the ongoing interagency CRA rulemaking, the OCC would propose a joint revised CRA rule to replace the rules in this proposal. The proposed transition considerations are described in more detail in Section IV.
II. Background Congress enacted the CRA in 1977 to encourage IDIs to help meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including lowand moderate-income LMI neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound lending practices.
Specifically, Congress found that 1
regulated financial institutions are required by law to demonstrate that their deposit facilities serve the convenience and needs of the communities in which they are chartered to do business; 2 the convenience and needs of communities include the need for credit as well as deposit services; and 3 regulated financial institutions have continuing and affirmative obligations to help meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered. 9
The Agencies first issued rules to implement the CRA in 1978.10 Between 1978 and 2018, the Agencies revised and sought to clarify the CRA rules numerous times, most significantly in 1995.11 On September 5, 2018, the OCC
published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ANPR as part of its renewed efforts to modernize the CRA regulatory framework.12
Subsequently, on January 9, 2020, the OCC and FDIC published a joint CRA
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking January 2020 NPR,13 and on June 5, 2020, the OCC issued the June 2020 Rule in an effort to modernize its CRA rules.
The June 2020 Rule took effect October 1, 2020; however, several provisions have delayed compliance dates of either January 1, 2023, or January 1, 2024.14 To implement certain provisions of the June 2020 Rule with a January 1, 2023, compliance date, the 9 12

U.S.C. 2901a.
FR 47144 Oct. 12, 1978. The CRA rules of the Agencies were codified in 12 CFR parts 25, 563e recodified as 195, 228, and 345.
11 60 FR 22156 May 4, 1995.
12 The OCC, along with the Board and the FDIC, worked together on an ANPR, which the OCC
published on September 5, 2018. 83 FR 45053
September 5, 2018.
13 85 FR 1204 January 9, 2020.
14 12 CFR 25.01c4.
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OCC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on December 4, 2020
December 2020 NPR, that proposed an approach to determine the benchmarks, thresholds, and minimums in the June 2020 Rules new performance standards.15 In connection with the December 2020 NPR, the OCC published a CRA information collection survey Information Collection 16 to obtain data necessary to calibrate the June 2020
Rules new performance standards.
Subsequently, on May 18, 2021, the OCC announced that it was reconsidering the June 2020 Rule, did not plan to finalize the December 2020
NPR, and was discontinuing the Information Collection.17 The OCC took these steps to provide for an orderly reconsideration of the June 2020 Rule and provide banks with the flexibility to deploy resources in response to the COVID19 pandemic.18
While the June 2020 Rule and the subsequent December 2020 NPR and Information Collection represent the OCCs most recent efforts to modernize the CRA regulatory framework, the Agencies efforts at reform have spanned the past decade. For example, in 2014, pursuant to the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 EGRPRA,19 the Agencies began a decennial review of all of their regulations, with input from the public, to identify outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations and consider how to reduce regulatory burden on IDIswhile, at the same time, ensuring the safety and soundness of these institutions and of the financial system. In 2017, the Agencies issued a report to Congress that included a summary of the public comments and recommendations received during the EGRPRA review, including those that addressed the CRA regulatory framework.20 Among the most frequently raised CRA-related issues were 1 the assessment area definition;
2 incentives for banks to serve LMI, unbanked, underbanked, and rural communities; 3 regulatory burdens associated with the recordkeeping and 15 85

FR 78258 Dec. 4, 2020.
FR 81270 Dec. 15, 2020.
17 See OCC Bulletin 202124, Community Reinvestment Act: Implementation of the June 2020
Final Rule May 18, 2021, available at https
www.occ.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2021/
bulletin-2021-24.html.
18 Id.
19 Public Law 104208, 110 Stat. 3001 1996
codified at 12 U.S.C. 3311.
20 See Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, Joint Report to Congress. Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act, pp. 4148 March 3, 2017, available at https
www.ffiec.gov/pdf/2017_FFIEC_EGRPRA_JointReport_to_Congress.pdf.
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reporting requirements and the asset thresholds for the various CRA
examination methods; 4 the need for clarity regarding performance measures and better examiner training to ensure consistency and rigor in CRA
examinations; and 5 the refinement of the CRA ratings methodology.
On April 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a report on the implementation of the CRA, which included recommendations for modernizing the CRA rules based on stakeholder input.21 Starting in 2018, the Agencies also engaged with stakeholders, including civil rights organizations, community groups, members of Congress, academics, and IDIs, to obtain their perspectives and feedback on the CRA and potential improvements to the CRA regulatory framework. Throughout all phases of the OCCs recent CRA modernization efforts, including prior to the issuance and during the implementation of the June 2020 Rule, many stakeholders objected to the OCC independently issuing a CRA rule and stressed the importance of the Agencies working together to issue consistent CRA rules.
A. Board ANPR
Separately from the OCC, the Board has explored ways to modernize the CRA regulatory framework to address changes in the banking industry, including the increased use of technology to deliver banking services.
Specifically, the Board conducted stakeholder outreach through a series of roundtable discussions 22 and published a CRA ANPR on October 19, 2020
Board ANPR,23 that invited public comment on an approach to modernize its CRA rule. The Board ANPR
described its objectives as including:
Increasing the clarity, consistency, and transparency regarding where, how, and what activities receive CRA
consideration, while minimizing data burden;
Tailoring CRA supervision to reflect differences in bank sizes and business models, local market needs and opportunities, and expectations across business cycles;
21 See Memorandum from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Community Reinvestment Act Findings and Recommendations April 3, 2018, available at https home.treasury.gov/sites/default/
files/2018-04/4-3-18%20CRA%20memo.pdf.
22 See, e.g., Perspectives from Main Street:
Stakeholder Feedback on Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act June 2019 available at https www.federalreserve.gov/publications/
files/stakeholder-feedback-on-modernizing-thecommunity-reinvestment-act-201906.pdf.
23 85 FR 66410.

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