The biggest housing law in three decades became law at midnight on July 11. No ceremony, no signature. The President let the constitutional clock run out, and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act quietly took effect without fanfare. However, as they say sometimes the devil is in the details. Most of the coverage and […]

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is now law, and for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and community development teams, one change stands out: national banks and state member banks can now hold public-welfare investments equal to as much as 20% of capital and surplus, up from 15%. The higher statutory limit does not apply […]

Opportunity Zones 2.0 will generate significant discussion around tax incentives, tract designations, and economic development. For Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Officers, the more important question may be different: how will institutions evaluate and document Opportunity Zone activities as part of a broader community development strategy? Opportunity Zones are designated low-income census tracts where qualifying investments […]

On June 30, 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released the 2026 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies. For Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) purposes, revitalization or stabilization activities in these designated geographies may be eligible for community development consideration. […]

The 2025 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) National Snapshot data was made publicly available by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) on June 23, 2026. Institutions using RiskExec now have access to the dataset for peer analysis, benchmarking, and year-over-year redlining review.  As with any public HMDA […]

Community development services remain one of the more nuanced components of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluation. While many institutions understand the broad purpose of community development activity, uncertainty often arises around what qualifies as a community development service, how activities should be documented, and what examiners actually evaluate during review. A CRA community development […]

Regulatory reporting platforms help financial institutions manage the operational demands of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Small Business Lending Rule (SBL)/Section 1071 compliance by supporting coverage analysis, data collection, validation, reporting workflows, audit readiness, and submission preparation. SBL/Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires certain financial institutions to collect and report data regarding applications for […]

Qualified investments are one of the broadest and most collaborative areas of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance. Unlike lending or service activities that may sit within more defined operational functions, qualified investments often require coordination across treasury, capital markets, community development, philanthropy, marketing, and executive leadership. A qualified investment under CRA is generally a lawful […]

Maryland's HB 573, signed into law May 26, 2026 and effective October 1, 2026, may be one of the clearest examples yet of a broader shift occurring in fair lending oversight. While recent federal actions may have narrowed the role of disparate impact theory in some regulatory contexts, Maryland has chosen to codify disparate impact […]

Majority-minority census tracts (MMCTs) and low- and moderate-income (LMI) census tracts are sometimes treated as interchangeable in fair lending and CRA analysis. They are not. MMCTs measure race and ethnicity composition, while LMI tracts measure income levels. Understanding where they overlap and where they do not overlap is fundamental to building a defensible fair lending […]

For many financial institutions, community development (CD) activity is not missed because lending teams lack effort. It is missed because CRA loan identification often depends on fragmented processes, inconsistent escalation practices, and manual recognition late in the lending lifecycle. CRA and CD loan identification is the process institutions use to identify loans that may qualify […]

For many banks, the Community Reinvestment Act is less about statutory language and more about how performance is evaluated, documented, and explained. It includes examination outcomes, public ratings, and regulatory decisions tied to growth activities such as mergers, acquisitions, and branch expansion. This guide is designed to give you a clear understanding of the Community […]