OCC Bulletin 2025-5 | April 7, 2025

Community Reinvestment Act: Rescinding the 2023 CRA Final Rule

To

Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks, Federal Savings Associations, and Federal Branches and Agencies; Department and Division Heads; All Examining Personnel; and Other Interested Parties

Summary

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the agencies) announced on March 28, 2025, in light of recent litigation, their intent to issue a proposal to rescind the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule issued in October 2023 (2023 CRA Final Rule). The proposal also would reinstate the CRA framework that existed prior to the 2023 CRA Final Rule, which currently remains in effect.

Note for Community Banks

This bulletin applies to all banks¹ subject to the CRA.

Highlights

The agencies plan to issue a proposal to rescind the 2023 CRA Final Rule.
The proposal also would seek public comment on reinstating the CRA framework that existed prior to the October 2023 Final Rule. For the OCC, this framework includes the CRA final rule issued by the OCC in 2021, which is based on rules adopted jointly by the agencies in 1995 (1995/2021 CRA regulation).
Currently, the OCC continues to assess banks' CRA performance under the 1995/2021 regulatory framework.
The text of the 1995/2021 CRA regulation can be found in (i) the 2022, 2023, or 2024 bound versions of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations; (ii) the historical version of the OCC's CRA regulation as of March 29, 2024, in the eCFR; or (iii) PDF form.
The agencies will continue to work together to promote a consistent regulatory approach to their implementation of the CRA.

Background

The CRA is designed to encourage insured depository institutions (including banks) to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they are chartered, consistent with their safe and sound operations, by requiring the agencies to examine an institution’s record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

The agencies must issue written public evaluations of an institution’s CRA performance and take this performance into account when evaluating certain applications. On October 24, 2023, the agencies issued a final rule that revised their regulations implementing the CRA. The 2023 CRA Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on February 1, 2024.² However, the 2023 CRA Final Rule never took effect due to a preliminary injunction staying the rule’s implementation issued as a result of litigation challenging the rule.

Further Information

Please contact Heidi Thomas, Senior Counsel, Chief Counsel’s Office, at (202) 649-5490, or Onjil McEachin, Director for CRA and Fair Lending Policy, Bank Supervision Policy, at (202) 649-5470.

Additional information about the final rule is available at Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

Stuart Feldstein
Acting Principal Deputy Chief Counsel