How to estimate how your performance will look under the new CRA
2024 Regulatory Hot Topics
The Coming Perfect Storm
The Importance of Assessment Areas
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Community Reinvestment Act Reform: A Close Look at the Final Rule
Keeping up with all the new regulations
What’s behind the increase in CRA Exam failures?
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): Recap and What to Expect in 2014
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
The Situation: On January 29, 2024, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") requested comment on a proposed rule updating its bank merger rules and incorporating a policy statement (the "Proposal") on agency...more
Recently, my son took an online college course about social justice in the as-built environment. One topic in the class was redlining – a practice that limited the availability of affordable home loans for minorities. ...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
To keep you informed of recent activities, below are several of the most significant federal and state events that have influenced the Consumer Financial Services industry over the past week...more
The federal banking agencies have jointly issued a final rule that will modify how examiners assess compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Among other changes to the CRA regulations announced on October 24, the...more
Recently the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a proposed consent order with Ameris Bank to resolve allegations of redlining from 2016 through 2021 in majority Black and Hispanic areas in the Bank’s Jacksonville,...more
The following newsletter provides a roundup summarizing enforcement actions, guidance, rulemakings, and other public statements taken by a federal and/or state financial services regulatory agency, specifically focusing on:...more
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling ending race-based admissions at colleges and universities could have a ripple effect on unrelated fields. Our Financial Services & Products Group explores how the Harvard decision could change...more
In a continuation of enforcement activity related to redlining under October 2021’s Combatting Redlining Initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on May 31, 2023, that ESSA Bank & Trust has agreed to pay $3...more
A&B Abstract: Furthering the Justice Department’s Combating Redlining Initiative, the Department of Justice has announced another redlining settlement. But this settlement is different – this one involves a bank that has...more
The Justice Department announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lakeland Bank to settle the DOJ’s claims that Lakeland engaged in unlawful redlining in the Newark, New Jersey metropolitan area. The DOJ’s lawsuit...more
In its recent Semiannual Risk Perspective, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has highlighted the difficulties banks face finding adequate numbers and quality of hires for compliance oversight. While there...more
At the beginning of his term, President Biden declared that his administration would make it a policy to eliminate “racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all states of home-buying and renting.”...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced last Thursday that it had reached an agreement with First Merchants Bank, an Indiana state-chartered bank, to settle the redlining lawsuit that the DOJ filed against the bank on June...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this week that it has reached an agreement with KleinBank, a state-chartered Minnesota bank, to settle the redlining lawsuit that the DOJ filed against the bank in January...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently commenced a redlining lawsuit against KleinBank, a state-chartered Minnesota bank subject to the regulatory authority of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The...more
Financial Industry Developments - Prohibition on Dealing or Investing in Industrial or Commercial Metals - On January 3, 2017, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the "OCC") finalized a rule that...more
Marketplace lending has grown dramatically over the last several years, but it still remains a nascent industry. As it continues to expand its reach, players in the industry and the traditional banking/investment sector are...more
The Federal Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) requires regulated financial institutions to focus on meeting “the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered.” See 12 U.S.C. § 2901(a)(3). Under the CRA,...more
The CFPB, DOJ, and Hudson City Savings Bank, F.S.B. (“Hudson City”) recently entered into the largest residential mortgage redlining settlement in DOJ history. On September 24, 2015, the parties filed a Joint Motion for Entry...more
On September 24, 2015, the CFPB and DOJ announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank for allegedly discriminatory redlining practices from 2009 through 2013 in certain neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey,...more
Consistent with recent indications from CFPB and Department of Justice officials that more redlining cases would soon be coming, the CFPB and DOJ have announced a proposed consent order with Hudson City Savings Bank to settle...more
On September 24, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank, F.S.B. (Hudson). The complaint alleges that Hudson...more