While its efforts to modernize Community Reinvestment Act regulations proceed along a separate track, the OCC today issued a bulletin to clarify current OCC policies and processes for assessing banks’ CRA performance.

The OCC is hoping to issue a long-awaited advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the Community Reinvestment Act in the coming weeks, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said today, and it has been waiting in order to build consensus with other banking agencies.

As the Treasury prepares to issue its report on nonbank fintech issues, ABA today released a white paper featuring several fintech policy recommendations that would facilitate innovation both inside and outside of the regulated banking system and promote partnerships between banks and nonbanks.

The OCC’s top policy priorities are changing regulations on the Community Reinvestment Act, the Bank Secrecy Act and small-dollar lending, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said today at ABA’s Government Relations Summit.

As the federal banking agencies work together on plans to revise the Community Reinvestment Act regulations and supervisory framework, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard articulated several “outcomes that we will work toward” that align closely with ABA’s advocacy on CRA reform.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee this morning, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles outlined several ways in which the Fed has already or is in the process of tailoring the post-crisis regulatory framework to promote efficiency, transparency and simplicity.

As bank regulators work toward modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act -- with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking expected from regulatory agencies in the days ahead -- the Treasury Department today issued a formal memorandum to the agencies highlighting several recommendations for updating and improving administration of the 40-year-old law.

The Federal Reserve is looking at revising both Community Reinvestment Act regulations and the way the agency examines for CRA compliance, Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles said today.

The Government Accountability Office last week released a report outlining recommendations to further incentivize financial institutions to provide banking services and small-dollar consumer loans in low- to moderate-income communities, including extending CRA to credit unions.

A delegation of 15 ABA member bankers met with senior OCC staffers on Tuesday to present ideas for modernizing the regulations that implement the four-decade-old Community Reinvestment Act.