The OCC's CRA Final Rule: What Is A Qualifying Activity?

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued a Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA") final rule¹ ("Final Rule") on May 20, 2020 effective October 1, 2020. The OCC announced a new framework for evaluating CRA performance with the objective to encourage banks to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low-moderate income ("LMI") individuals and areas. The Final Rule clarifies and expands the bank lending, investment and services (collectively "Qualifying Activities") of national banks, Federal branches of a foreign bank, Federal savings associations, and State savings associations that qualify for positive CRA consideration. The current CRA framework (that financial institutions regulated by the Federal Reserve or FDIC will continue to follow) has been faulted for highly variable and subjective determinations on what activities qualify for CRA consideration, often discouraging financial institutions from branching out into new