Regulatory tools for applying new regulations in 2021 that enforce anti-redlining laws – including lists of bank-type determinations and distressed and underserved areas – were released Friday by the regulator of national banks.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said the use of the lists – as well as the banking industry median hourly compensation value (also released Friday) – apply only to national banks, federal and state savings associations, and federal branches of foreign banks that are subject to the OCC’s new regulations under Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as adopted by the comptroller’s office last May.
The OCC said the list of bank-type determinations identifies banks based on asset size or business model as either small bank, intermediate bank, wholesale bank, limited purpose bank, or a bank subject to the May 2020 rule’s general performance standards (GPS). A bank’s type generally determines the performance standards and related examination procedures used to evaluate that bank’s CRA performance, the OCC said.
The list of distressed and underserved areas, the agency said, identifies middle-income census tracts where qualifying bank activities are eligible to receive CRA consideration under the community development definition of the new rule. “The designations continue to reflect local economic conditions, including unemployment, poverty, and population changes,” the OCC said.
The banking industry median hourly compensation value is used for determining the dollar value of a community development (CD) service in evaluating CRA performance for activities conducted during 2021, the OCC said. It equals total salaries and benefits divided by full-time equivalent employees, based on aggregate call report data for September 2019 through June 2020.
The agency also said it would post on its website the criteria for determining bank type, designating distressed and underserved areas, and calculating the banking industry median hourly compensation value.