CRA: The Importance of Assessment Areas

The episode “CRA: The Importance of Assessment Areas” explains why a bank’s CRA assessment area is one of the most important decisions it makes, because it directly affects both performance results and the benchmarks examiners use during CRA reviews. Len explains that while CRA rules require banks to include whole census tracts, deposit-taking facility areas, surrounding lending areas, and avoid excluding low- or moderate-income tracts, banks still have flexibility to define the area they can reasonably be expected to serve. The discussion emphasizes that overly large assessment areas can set banks up for poor CRA performance, even when the area is technically compliant, because the bank may be compared against markets it cannot realistically serve. Len gives an example of a one-branch bank in Los Angeles County that improved its CRA position by narrowing its assessment area to nearby census tracts where it actually lent and served customers. The episode concludes that banks should regularly review their CRA assessment areas, especially after branch changes or acquisitions, using mapping tools and performance data to ensure their areas are compliant, realistic, and aligned with their actual community lending activity.

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Avsnitt(100)

CRA Shake-Up: How the Regulators' NPR Could Bleed Community Funding

Host Len Suzio welcomes Josh Silver of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to discuss the regulators' Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Community Reinvestment Act. The episode focuses on ...

10 Sep 25min

2026 CRA NPR

In this episode of Compliance 911, Len Suzio and Dean Stockford examine the OCC and FDIC’s newly proposed revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act, focusing on how the rule could reshape bank class...

20 Aug 17min

Recent Regulatory Updates

In this episode of Compliance 911, Len Suzio and Dean Stockford review key banking and compliance developments from June 2026, including new OCC rules affirming federal banks’ authority over real esta...

6 Aug 17min

Community Development Benchmarks

In this episode of Compliance 911, Dean Stockford and Len Suzio discuss the OCC’s proposed Community Development benchmarks for CRA performance, focusing on why community development has historically ...

15 Juli 12min

Unpacking FDIC Consumer Compliance 2026 Supervisory Highlights

In this episode of Compliance 911, Len Suzio and Dean Stockford unpack the FDIC’s 2026 Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights, noting that while 98% of FDIC-supervised institutions earned satisfac...

25 Juni 13min

AI Integration Into Compliance

The episode “AI Integration Into Compliance” explains how artificial intelligence is already becoming a practical tool for bank compliance teams as regulatory expectations rise, data volumes grow, and...

10 Juni 13min

CRA: Other Ways in which banks help meet the needs of the community

This podcast explains that banks can strengthen their CRA exam performance by presenting additional lending activity that examiners may not otherwise consider, beyond the usual focus on small business...

27 Maj 11min